On Se Sent Comme Par Magie: The Destiny Of Cosette
by RJ.E-scope.DxC
Summary: Cosette is a normal Parisian teenager - until one day, she discovers a Faery named Enjolras being attacked by an ogre! And when she uses magic to protect the Faery, she realises that maybe she's not as normal as she thought. Her life is turned upside down as she attends Faery school, faces off with a coven of Witches called Patron-Minette, and dreams of a Nymph known as Fantine...
1. Prologue

**Fifteen years ago **

The walls were crumbling. The floor was shaking. She could hear them getting closer, and she knew she didn't have much time.

Fantine raised her right hand and circled it carefully, creating a small golden portal. She winced as she felt another piece of the ceiling crash to the floor behind her. They were almost there.

She turned to the bundle of blue fabric in her arms. An elfin face surrounded by golden blonde hair peeked out at her. Her darling Euphrasie was still asleep, thank the Dragon. Fantine planted a kiss on her daughter's head, and with a heavy heart placed her into the portal. She saw the child's eyes open, and confusion cross her face as she wondered why her mother was no longer holding her, before the portal closed and spirited the infant away to another dimension.

One where she would be safe, where darkness would not be able to find her.

Fantine smiled at the knowledge that her daughter would not die, and turned to face her fate.


	2. A Faery In Paris

A golden sun rose over Paris, illuminating both the Eiffel Tower and the interiors of apartments and narrow two-story houses. In one such house, at number 40 rue des Archives, the sunlight spilled into the bedroom of a sixteen-year-old girl, trying unsuccessfully to rouse her from the clutches of sleep. Her father entered the room, and he took a bolder approach to waking her.

"Cosette, chérie, réveille-toi! You're going to be late for school."

That did it. Cosette leapt out of bed with a yelp, hurried into the bathroom, and emerged five minutes later in a fluffy blue bathrobe, drying her damp blonde hair with a towel. She snatched up a stripy top and a pair of denim capri-pants, and yanked them on under her robe, while berating her father for not waking her up earlier.

"How could I have forgotten about school? Oh, I'm going to be so late, why didn't you come in earlier, Papa? Merde!"

She had just shoved her feet into a pair of pink flats when she realised. "Hang on," Cosette murmured. "I'm not late for school. It's still the holidays! School doesn't start again for another week. Not funny, Papa!"

Her father, Jean Valjean, grinned at her unashamed. "I thought it was pretty funny." He stroked the ears of the little chocolate brown Dutch rabbit who had been asleep in a basket lined with fluffy blankets, but had woken up at the sound of his mistress' panicked shouts.

Cosette scowled. "I'm going back to bed." She toed off her flats and sulkily dived back under the covers. The rabbit hopped out of his basket and onto the bed, snuggling up to her, and she petted him sleepily.

Valjean kissed the top of his daughter's head. "Chérie, why were you up so late anyway?"

"I was reading."

He reached for the book that had been left open next to the bed. "'Fées: mythe ou réalité?'" Valjean sighed fondly. "Don't you ever get tired of silly fairy stories?"

"They're not silly!" Cosette defended the book, but she stretched and got out of bed properly, scooping up the rabbit and following her dad downstairs into the living room.

"Anyway, since you're still on holiday, you can help me around the house today."

"Papa!" Cosette complained. "I don't want to spend the last week of the holidays doing _housework_. I want to go out with my friends! I'm not a child any more."

"You're still my little girl," teased Valjean. When Cosette's pout didn't lift, he smiled fondly at her. "All right. But in order to do that, you're going to need wheels."

Cosette's eyes widened. "Papa…you didn't!" She beamed as she dashed out the front door and down the stairs at the front of the house, skidding to a halt in front of…a bicycle. Not a car, or a scooter, but a simple sky-blue bicycle, with a basket on the front and a baby-pink bell.

Valjean watched his daughter's reaction eagerly. Cosette held her smile carefully in place. "Thanks so much, Papa! It's…it's really great." She hugged him quickly, and lifted her rabbit into the basket, where he sat up proudly. "I think I'll take Wolter to the park. Thanks again, Papa!" She blew him a kiss, hopped onto the bike, and peddled off.

The bike wasn't actually that bad. It was the ruthless teasing that would come with it. Cosette glanced up as a shadow fell across the path in front of her. Rosetta.

"Salut, Cosette," smirked the raven-haired queen-bee. Rosetta had been picking on Cosette since they were little kids, and showed no signs of stopping any time soon. "Nice _ride_." She said 'ride' the way most people said 'heap of shit'.

Cosette mouthed a word not suitable for polite conversation, but Rosetta didn't see, as she had turned to the delivery men carefully unboxing a bright pink scooter. "Be careful with that! It's new!" Rosetta glanced back at Cosette. "Later, loser!"

The blonde glared at Rosetta's retreating back, but ultimately decided to ignore her and continued on to the park. When they got there, Wolter hopped out of his basket and padded off to explore the woods, while Cosette propped her bike against a tree, and sat cross-legged on the ground. It was a nice spot. Maybe she'd come back later with a sketchpad and some watercolour paints.

Suddenly, Wolter came bounding out of the bushes, squeaking furiously. He jumped around her, and tugged at her jeans with his teeth, leading her back the way he'd come from. "What is it, Wolter?" Cosette asked him softly, following him through the bushes. "Did you find something interesting?"

Interesting, it turned out, was a bit of an understatement. A person was standing in the middle of a glade with their back to Cosette, their posture suggesting that they were fighting something, or someone. The figure turned to one side, glaring at something Cosette couldn't see, and she realised that it was a teenage boy.

He was about her age, maybe a little older, with waist-length golden-blond hair tied in a ponytail with a red band. He was dressed like nobody she'd ever seen before - his clothes were mainly bright red, made of a material that glittered in the morning sun; a top that was draped like a toga, but showed off his lithe midriff, and the shortest shorts she'd ever seen on a boy. His boots were knee-high and had black heels, across his forehead was a black headband, and he had black cuffs on both wrists. He was clutching a long staff made of black metal, the top of which was an orb surrounded by smaller red orbs that hung in mid-air. From his back sprouted six small golden fronds, three from each shoulder blade, that almost looked like…wings.

And his face…Cosette had never seen a face both so charming and terrifying at the same time. His features were beautiful: his nose was straight, his eyes were almond-shaped, his brows were sculpted and his lips were plump and red. But his expression was one of utter fury, with rage glowing in his golden-brown irises, and it was directed at something lurking in the shadows, just outside of Cosette's line of sight.

Suddenly, the lurking thing leapt at the boy, and Cosette clamped a hand over her own mouth to hold back her scream because_ that wasn't normal_. It had dark maroon scales, with a small body and gangly limbs, and a flat, cruel face with glowing yellow eyes. Its hands were large with sharp claws, and it had a definite hunch. The claws slashed at the boy, who to her surprise, didn't even flinch, but instead shouted, "Rising Sun!" A bright light flashed, and the thing retreated. Cosette's jaw dropped - the flash of light had come from the boy's _hand._

There was a growling from the bushes, and more of the creatures appeared, running at the boy and scratching at his legs. The boy lifted his staff and yelled, "Solar Wind!" as he brought it down hard on the ground. A glowing wind blew the creatures back into the shadows, but one of them hovered in mid-air, as though it was flying, a dark shadow wrapped around its body.

Suddenly the shadow contracted, and the creature burst into…nothing. It was gone. But the shadow wasn't, and as it moved forward, it materialised into a hand, attached to an arm, attached to a…

…an _ogre_.

Cosette knew that she herself would have been shrieking her head off and running for the hills by this point, but the boy held his ground. He glared at the ogre. "I am Enjolras, Faery of the Shining Sun and Prince of Solaria, so fuck_ off!"_

There were three main reasons that Cosette was speechless after this pronouncement:  
exist! She'd been right all along!  
looked nothing like what she'd imagined a Faery to be like - he was a lot taller than she'd thought faeries would be.  
she'd previously imagined meeting a Faery, she hadn't expected their first words to include the phrase 'fuck off'.

The ogre seemed less than pleased about being sworn at, and he charged furiously at the faery, who clearly wasn't expecting it. They collided, Enjolras' jaw going slack, and the blond boy flew through the air, landing heavily with a thump.

The maroon-scaled creatures surrounded him, pinning him to the ground. "Ghouls!" the ogre growled. "Take his sceptre!"

One of the creatures snatched the staff from Enjolras' hand, and the Faery paled. The ogre loomed over him, a wicked smirk on his face. "Not so sunny now, are you?" he growled maliciously.

"Hey!" Cosette found herself shouting. The ogre spun to face her. Cosette was terrified, but bravely held her ground. "Let him go!" She couldn't just sit there and watch the Faery being beaten.

The ogre looked merely irritated. "Ghouls! Attack!"

The ghouls rushed at Cosette, their claws swiping at her. She threw up her hands to shield her face, and suddenly the ghouls were retreating as if burned. Wolter was gazing at her slack-jawed, but suddenly began bouncing excitedly and chittering in celebration. He didn't notice a ghoul creeping up on him until it was nearly upon him, but gave a squeak of terror when he saw it mere inches away from him.

Now Cosette was furious. "Hands off Wolter!" she yelled, snatched up a stick, and swung it hard at the ghoul, which careened off into the woods. If Cosette had been a faster runner, she could've been a baseball pro.

Suddenly, her hands were being crushed in the ogre's strong grip. "Bad move, girlie!" he growled. "Larbin smash!" He shook her like a rag-doll.

Cosette wasn't even scared any more - just really, really angry. She could literally feel her anger bubbling up inside her chest, as though it was going to burst out at any moment. She shouted angrily - she wasn't really sure what - and suddenly something large and golden-red burst out of her chest, and the ogre was skidding across the ground. His yellowish skin looked red and raw, as though it had been burned.

He gingerly got to his feet, and realised that he'd let go of the sceptre. The ghouls rushed to his side. He'd torn a hole in her jeans when he'd grabbed her, Cosette noticed to her annoyance.

Enjolras got up, rubbing his head. He grabbed his sceptre back off the ground, and smiled at Cosette. "Hey. Thanks!"

"No-n-n-no problem," Cosette stuttered back. Enjolras turned and glared at the ogre, who had clearly decided that the fight wasn't worth continuing. He scowled. "You win this time, Faery, but I'll be back!" He clapped his hands three times and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, along with his ghouls.

Enjolras continued to glare at the spot where the ogre had been, but suddenly clutched at his sceptre and toppled over with a moan. There was a flash, and he was suddenly wearing a well-cut dark red silk suit and black leather shoes. His sceptre was gone, as were his wings, and his hair was loose and tumbled about his shoulders. He was unconscious.

"OK, Cosette, tell me again why there is an unconscious teenage boy on our sofa."

"We were in the woods in the park. Big scary monsters attacked us, and he fought them! And…so did I!" Cosette felt a little dizzy every time she remembered how the burning energy had burst out of her, sending the ghouls and the ogre flying.

Valjean didn't look convinced, but Enjolras was stretching and his eyelids were fluttering, and he was starting to sit up. Cosette dashed to his side. "How are you feeling?"

The boy yawned. "Much better, thanks. Um, where am I?"

Cosette put a hand on his shoulder. "You're at my house. This is my dad, Jean Valjean, and I'm Cosette. If you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened to you?"

Valjean nodded. "I'd like to know that too."

Enjolras took a deep breath. "Well, I was on my way back to the Musain College for Faeries in Magix - that's the school I go to - when I was forced down onto Earth by that disgusting ogre and his ghouls! They were trying to take the Sceptre of Solaria, and I'm the Prince of Solaria and thus its guardian. Have you heard of Solaria? It's in the Magic Dimension in another galaxy." He said all of this in a single breath.

Valjean looked worried. "He's delirious. I'm calling the hospital." He picked up the phone.

Enjolras looked cross, but suddenly he grinned and focussed a beam of light that came from his finger at the phone. There was a puff of smoke, and instead of a phone Valjean was holding a lettuce. The blond Faery smirked. "Believe me now?"

Cosette beamed at him. "I believe you, Enjolras!"

"Thank you. So, as I was saying, the ogre attacked me, and he managed to get my sceptre! But then, Cosette jumped out and fought him off, and got my sceptre back."

Valjean looked at Cosette curiously. She shrugged. "Actually, I don't know how I did it. It was weird!"

"Faeries don't need to know how they're doing it," Enjolras shrugged. "They just do it."

Cosette felt like she was floating. "Me? A-a Faery?"

Enjolras nodded. "If you throw up energy shields like a Faery, and beat down monsters like a Faery, I say you must be a Faery!"

Valjean rubbed his forehead with his knuckles. "This is - this is nuts! Faeries - nuts!"

Meanwhile, in a cavern somewhere in another dimension…

Larbin the ogre cowered in front of three sets of glowing eyes. They glared back.

"Larbin, you useless ogre!" snarled the owner of one set of eyes. "You didn't even manage to overpower a silly Faery!"

"I-it wasn't m-m-my fault, your scarinesses!" Larbin stuttered. "I would have got the sceptre, but there was this girl there - a s-super-powerful Faery!"

"Really?" another voice said, silkier and more threatening than the first. "Super-powerful? Tell me more."

Larbin quaked like a leaf, but continued. "I managed to tear off some material from her clothes. We can use a h-h-hunting troll to find her."

The eyes glittered with evil intent, and Larbin let out a relieved breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

Enjolras followed Cosette into her bedroom. "Is this your room? It's cool!" He studied some sketches of Paris she'd pinned to her wall. "Did you draw these?" Cosette nodded shyly. "They're really good!" He laughed. "Sorry, I'm a bit nosy."

Cosette shook her head. "It's OK," she said, but suddenly changed her mind. "Actually, no, it's not OK. I still have no idea what happened in the park!"

Enjolras looked almost bored. "You used your powers to save my life. Standard Faery duty."

"But I didn't even know I had powers until now!"

The blond Faery shrugged. "You've always had them, it just took 'til now for them to come out. Watch…" Enjolras focussed on the mug of pencils on Cosette's desk. The pencils rose into the air, surrounded by glowing golden light. With a flash, they morphed together into a single pencil about the size of a pencil case. Enjolras smiled encouragingly at her. "Your turn, Cosette. Return them to their original shape."

Cosette concentrated hard on the pencil. "Come on…come on!" She flourished her hands at it, gritted her teeth and scrunched her nose - but the pencil simply dropped to the floor and rolled under her bed. She sighed. "I can't do it."

"You just need practice, that's all," Enjolras insisted. He gave a practised flick of the wrist, and the pencil flew into the air and split back into several normal sized pencils, landing neatly back in the mug. "At Musain, we learn to control our powers in order to reach more powerful levels of magic. You should definitely come with me tomorrow."

Cosette bit her lip indecisively. Enjolras pulled out what looked like a postcard. "I know! Do you want to see the school?"

"You can do that? Show me the school?"

Enjolras nodded and dropped the postcard onto the floor, where it grew to the size of a small rug. "It's a bottomless postcard. Follow me!" He hopped onto it with a cry of "To Magix!"

Cosette gasped as he disappeared into the postcard. She rushed towards it and looked down into it, and saw a tiny Enjolras beckoning to her to join him. Carefully, she stepped onto the postcard and repeated "To Magix!"

It was a peculiar sensation, sinking into the postcard. Her skin felt fizzy where the portal touched it, and she couldn't feel any ground beneath her feet. As her head went under, she held her breath, but to her surprise, there was no change in the air, except perhaps it smelled a little fresher. Her feet landed on the ground easily, and she looked around in awe. They were standing on the grass at the edge of a green forest, under a bright blue sky. Then she noticed the castle.

It was straight out of a fairy tale. The walls were pale pink, and the roofs were baby blue. It was structured as a massive circle around a central courtyard, with lilac gates shaped like enormous wings. There was a wishing well in the centre of the courtyard, and there were delicate balconies all around the upper floors. The castle had two towers, one with a turret roof and the other more of a raised platform with delicate battlements. It was gorgeous.

Cosette still looked a little unsure. "What about my high school in Paris?" she asked Enjolras. "I mean, my high school years haven't been the happiest years of my life, but I can't just ditch."

Enjolras shrugged. "Yes you can. Just say you got a late reply from a college you applied to. And I can assure you, I've never met anyone who was unhappy with their Musain experience. You learn loads, and make tons of friends!"

"True, I don't really have many friends here," Cosette admitted. "I lost most of them when I broke up with my last boyfriend. Although it would be weird starting over at a new school with no one I know in my class."

Enjolras looked almost embarrassed. "Actually, I'd be in your class," he admitted. "I'm repeating my first year."

"Did you fail?" Cosette hadn't known him for very long, but Enjolras didn't seem like the kind of person to neglect academics, especially with the enthusiasm he had when talking about his school.

"No…I was kind of expelled…my parents smoothed everything over, but I have to repeat my first year as punishment for how badly I screwed up last year," Enjolras sighed. "I swear, college has no time for justice!"

A few streets away, outside an abandoned warehouse, several figures appeared in a cloud of smoke. Two were huge and hulking, the others smaller and crouched low to the ground. They were, of course, Larbin the ogre, his hunting troll, and more ghouls. And like most people hanging around abandoned warehouses, they were up to no good.

Larbin handed the troll the scrap of denim he had torn from Cosette's jeans. "Here, troll. Sniff out the Faery!" he instructed the creature.

The troll snatched the scrap in one blue-skinned hand and inhaled deeply. Cosette's soft, grapefruity scent clung to the creature's thick black nose-hairs. The troll lowered the scrap, and sniffed the night air, searching for the same scent. Finally he found it. "That way!" The troll pointed to the west of the warehouse. It had a low, gravelly voice, and its words were stilted as it spoke in a language far more complex than its native tongue (but then again, any language is more complex than Troll. You just have to point and grunt, after all).

The troll led the ogre and the ghouls towards the source of the scent. They had just turned onto rue des Archives when suddenly the troll stopped. "Wait… scent gone."

This was, obviously, the moment that Enjolras and Cosette had entered the bottomless postcard.

"I guess… I'll think about it," Cosette decided.

Enjolras smiled triumphantly. "Good enough for me! Come on, let's go back!"

"How do we get out of here?"

"It's really easy!" Enjolras said. "You just jump!" He sprang upwards, and vanished!

Cosette jumped too, and suddenly there was that fizzy feeling again - and then they were standing back in her bedroom.

"Scent back!" the troll grunted. It narrowed its eyes at the row of houses, but suddenly pointed at number 40. "That one!"

In the living room of number 40, Valjean was pacing up and down, attempting to get his thoughts in order.

_Faeries don't exist! _

**But Enjolras turned the phone into a lettuce! **

_That was probably just a trick of my eyes. I should really go to the optometrist. _

**Magic exists and you know it! You've seen it! Enjolras is magic, and maybe Cosette is too… **

The front door rattled. Wolter's ears pricked up, and he sniffed the air. His eyes widened. That smell was wrong. He squeaked and bounded over to Valjean, pawing at his slipper. _Something is wrong! Something is very wrong!_

Valjean tutted. "We'll play later, Wolter. I'm busy right now!"

_You're just pacing! And this isn't a game! Something is wrong here!_ Wolter gave up, and dug his teeth into a chair, dragging it over to the door and propping it under the doorknob in the hope that it would keep the Bad Thing out.

"What is that rabbit doing?" Valjean muttered. "Wolter, I told you, I can't play right n-!"

He never finished that sentence, as something collided heavily with the front door and the entire house shook. "What was that?"

In Cosette's bedroom, she and Enjolras yelped at the shockwave.

From downstairs, the gravelly voice echoed up to them. "FAERY!"

"Fuck!" Cosette gasped. "My dad" She and Enjolras dashed down the stairs, but stopped at the bottom in shock.

Larbin had Valjean in a choke-hold pinned against the wall. The troll was staring wildly around the room, searching for something. When it spotted them, it gave another cry of "FAERY!"

Enjolras appeared unruffled. "Looking for moi?" He removed a ring from his middle finger. It was shaped like a muffin, but with black dough and red chocolate chips. "Well, you found me!"

Cosette knew what he was thinking. "We need to split them up."

"You take the ghouls," Enjolras whispered. Then to the troll and the ogre: "Bring it on, you blimps!"

"Come get me, you stupid ghouls!" Cosette yelled, running for the door. The troll had bashed the frame out of shape on its way in. The unpleasant creatures followed her.

Enjolras threw the ring into the air with a cry of "Solaria!" and it turned into his sceptre! So that was where it had gone earlier. There was a flash of golden light and he had transformed into his Faery form.

The ogre let Valjean drop to the floor. "Hey…did you call me a blimp?" he snarled.

A smirk appeared on the blond boy's face. "Well, if the shoe fits…"

It was only when Cosette got outside, that she realised she was surrounded by several murderous creatures with sharp claws, and she had absolutely no means of defence. "Fuck…"

Suddenly, a silver gleam caught her eye. What looked like an upside-down cooking pot was moving along the ground. When it reached her feet, she picked it up - nothing under it. Turning it over, she realised that Wolter was clinging to it in an attempt to hide from the ghouls. She lifted him onto a wall out of their reach.

There was a loud crash from inside, and suddenly Enjolras was thrown through the window, shattering the glass. Cosette yelped in shock. "Are you OK?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Enjolras got up and brushed himself off. "I have everything under control. I called backup!"

The troll exited the house, smashing the door frame again. "Got you now - gurgh!" The choking noise was caused by the glowing magenta collar that had wrapped around its neck. Cosette turned to the source of the collar, and was more surprised by her lack of surprise at its source than by the fact that the source was the glowing hands of a boy with hair the same colour as the collar.

They must be Enjolras' backup! Four boys about her own age were standing on the pavement. They all wore the same uniform - a navy-and-cream jumpsuit with knee high navy boots and a sky blue cape secured by a jewelled pin. The pin was a different colour for each boy: the boy with magenta hair had a magenta pin, the tall freckly redheaded one had a blue pin, the one with curly black hair had a green pin, and the bespectacled dirty-blond boy had a yellow pin.

"Ok, you've got him, now keep him steady, Baz," the redhead instructed.

"Relax, I'm fine," the magenta-haired boy, 'Baz', insisted.

"I'm totally relaxed," said the boy with black curls with an easy smirk. He was leaning on a bright green broadsword he seemed to have conjured from - well, not thin air, it gleamed almost as if it was made from water. "It's you I'm worried about."

Rightly so - it was just as he said this, that the troll jerked its head and sent Baz flying.

"Ferre!" the redhead shouted. "You're up!"

The bespectacled boy yelped and fumbled with the gun he was holding, but managed to pull the trigger three times. Three glowing yellow darts shot towards the troll, distracting it and burning its skin when it tried to bat them away.

Baz got up from where he'd landed between Cosette and Enjolras. "Excuse me, but I've got work to do," he said, pushing them out of his way. Cosette was a little affronted at his brusque manner, but in all fairness he had just been thrown about 20 feet.

The four boys continued to box the troll into a corner, but were kept from any direct strikes by its swinging fists. Enjolras grabbed Cosette's wrist. "Come on, focus!" he said urgently, and this time Cosette knew exactly what to do. She focussed sharply on the space between her and Enjolras' hands. As the curly-haired boy brought the broadsword down on the pavement, slicing it open and creating a deep ditch, a ball of energy formed between them, and Enjolras mouthed, "3…2…1…now!"

Cosette pulled her hands away from the energy bubble, and it shot towards the troll, knocking him into the ditch!

"And that's how you take down an ogre," Enjolras grinned.

"I really am a Faery," Cosette whispered in wonderment.

"Told you!"

Larbin had exited the house by this point. He knew when to cut his losses. "Ghouls! To me!" His ghastly servants surrounded him, and like he had earlier, he clapped three times and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Enjolras brushed a stray hair out of his face. "Cosette, I'd like you to meet the Wizards. This is Bahorel -"

'Baz' gave a grunt of acknowledgement.

"- Prince Marius -"

The boy with curly black hair grinned at her in greeting. "What's up?"

"- Combeferre -"

The bespectacled boy grinned shyly at her. "Hey!"

"- and Grantaire, Prince Marius' squire."

The redhead blushed and awkwardly saluted her. "Heyyo," he stuttered. Cosette felt her heart skip a little. He had warm hazel eyes and was covered in freckles. She'd always liked freckles.

The troll had begun climbing out of the ditch, but Combeferre quickly clamped a glowing collar around its neck. "Where do you think you're going, huh?" he grinned at it. A portal opened behind them and Bahorel and Prince Marius pulled the troll towards it. "See ya later!" Marius called back. Bahorel, Grantaire and Combeferre all waved, and suddenly they were gone. Cosette waved back at where they had been standing, and knew her mind was made up.

The next morning saw Valjean up early, sweeping the remnants of a broken vase into a dustpan. Enjolras, now dressed in a red T-shirt and black skinny jeans, leant against the living room doorway. "Y'know, with a little magic I could have your house fixed in no time…" he offered.

Valjean smiled. "I think I'd prefer to do things the old-fashioned way, but thank you for the offer, Enjolras," he said.

Cosette padded down the stairs, clutching a pink suitcase in one hand and holding Wolter's basket in the other. Valjean's smile became a little sad. "You're sure you wanna do this, sweetie?" he said, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, Papa. I need to know more about my powers, and this is the best way to learn." All of Cosette's uncertainty from the night before had vanished, replaced by a determined set to her shoulders and an excited gleam in her eyes.

"I know you do," Valjean nodded. "But you didn't think I was just going to let you go without checking this school out first, did you?"

"Really?" Cosette beamed. She turned to Enjolras. "You can bring my dad too, right, Enj?"

Enjolras pondered it for a moment. "Well…it's against the rules. But as they say, rules were meant to be broken!" He grinned. "You ready?"

Valjean had grabbed a jacket from the end of the bannister. "I think so. Cosette?"

"I'm ready, Papa."

"Then let's go!" Enjolras cheered. He pulled off his ring and shook it, turning it back into his sceptre. With a swish of the sceptre and a shout of, "To Musain!" they were tumbling through a glowing tunnel, with walls that seemed to be made of pure sunlight. Enjolras looked completely at home, falling gracefully with his arms spread and his knees bent, laughing joyfully, while Valjean and Wolter most certainly were not, were flailing their limbs and shrieking. Cosette suspected she didn't look much better.

They landed lightly on the grass in the same place as Cosette and Enjolras had been when they were in the bottomless postcard the day before. The castle looked exactly the same, except for several teenage girls and boys entering through the gates, which were now open, and a golden banner strung between the two towers that proclaimed in silver lettering:

**WELCOME TO THE MUSAIN COLLEGE FOR FAERIES!**

**NOTES: **_Hello everyone! It's me! So this story is already up on AO3, but I wanted to post it here too because why not? This story is my baby. It's a multichapter, multibook Les Mis Winx Club AU (If you hadn't already guessed) and I love writing it. I really hope you enjoy reading it! xoxo_


	3. Musain and Magix

"There it is," Enjolras smiled fondly. "Come on, let's go."

"It certainly looks very fancy," Valjean commented. "Are you sure we can afford it, though?"

Enjolras looked confused. "Is education not free where you come from?"

Valjean shook his head, and Cosette mumbled something about trust funds and student loans. Enjolras tutted.

"Education is so highly valued here that we don't charge individuals," Enjolras explained. "Instead the royal court of every planet donates something towards paying staff and maintaining buildings every year. Magical education is invaluable in the Magic Universe."

"Whoa," Cosette murmured.

Valjean looked impressed. "Let's go then!" He started towards the school, but after a few feet suddenly stumbled back like he'd walked into a lamppost.

But there was nothing there.

"What in the…" he murmured, putting a hand up to… _whatever it was_ that had stopped him. "I… I can't get through!"

"Really?" Cosette asked. She started forwards too, but nothing threw her back, or even mildly inconvenienced her. "I don't feel anything. And it's not stopping Wolter," she added as the little Dutch rabbit followed her. In shocked surprise, Wolter began examining himself to check that nothing was amiss.

Valjean tried again, but again he was unable to follow her. "I don't know what it is, ma chèrie. I just can't walk there."

Cosette raised an eyebrow at Enjolras. "Enj, did you do that?"

Enjolras shook his head. "No. It's a magical barrier around the school. It keeps non-magical beings out. I'm sorry, sir," he turned to Valjean, "but you can't go any further."

Valjean sighed sadly. "Well, I guess this is au revoir, Cosette."

Cosette ran back to him. "Don't worry, papa. I'll call you as soon as I can, and I'll email every day. I'm going to miss you, but I'm really excited! I'm becoming a _Faery!"_

Valjean hugged his daughter. "This was always going to happen, you going off to college. It's just a bit earlier than I was expecting. I love you, chou." He turned to Wolter. "Take care of my little girl for me, eh, Wolter. I know she can protect herself, but look after her heart." Wolter squeaked in agreement.

"You ready to go back home, sir?" Enjolras asked. When Valjean nodded, the Faery of the Shining Sun once again brandished his sceptre. "Safe journey!"

Valjean vanished, and Enjolras smiled at Cosette. "Come on, let's go!"

When they passed through the gates, their attention was caught by a line of teenagers, who were queuing up to speak to -

"Oh, _shiiiiiiiit,"_ Enjolras groaned. "It's Professor Javert! He's the strictest teacher here!"

Cosette took in the professor. He had black greying hair in a ponytail, sharp cheekbones, a large nose and a stern mouth. His skin was tanned, and his eyes were dark and narrow. He was dressed in dark blue robes with a black belt, and wore a monocle on his left eye. He certainly made an impression. "Do we need to speak to him before we go in?" she asked Enjolras.

Enjolras nodded. "We have to register with him."

"I'm registered with the school, though. Right?" Cosette narrowed her eyes at Enjolras. "_Right?_"

"Well…"

"Seriously?! Didn't it occur to you that registering might have been a good idea before I dropped out of high school and moved to another dimension?"

Enjolras had the decency to look sheepish. "It'll be OK," he assured her. "Uh… Oh! I have an idea!" He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a crumpled envelope. "This is a letter from Princess Ursule of Veranda. She was supposed to take up a place here, but she's decided to be homeschooled instead." Enjolras shook his head. "Dragon above, we live in a world full of technology and magic, and Veranda is so old-fashioned that they need _me_ to deliver a letter for them." He grinned. "But I'm not going to deliver it!" He bowed elaborately to Cosette. "From now on, you are Princess Ursule of Veranda!"

"What?" Cosette's jaw dropped. "No! Enjolras, we can't lie to them! That's bad, that's really bad!"

"Well, it's either that or -" Enjolras fell silent as a shadow loomed over them. They looked up to see Professor Javert glaring at them.

"Aah, Prince Enjolras," Javert said coldly. "I see you're back again."

"Alright there, Professor?" Enjolras chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I'm back. Heh."

Javert looked stonily at the blond boy before turning his attention to Cosette. "And who might you be?"

"I…" Cosette's nerve went, and before she knew it, there was a word-vomit disaster coming out of her mouth. "I'm Princess Ursule of Veranda!" she blurted.

Javert ticked a name on his list and moved on. Enjolras smirked at her and she groaned. "I done fucked up, Enjolras."

"Come on, Sette! It's not _that_ bad."

Cosette looked at him incredulously. "Enjolras, either way I'm screwed. I have to pretend to be Princess Ursule for _three years,_ or else I get found out and expelled! This is a disaster!"

Enjolras shushed her. "Ssshhh, Ursule. It's Headmaster Myriel!"

A tiny old man was standing on the steps up to the front doors, smiling fondly at the teenagers in the courtyard. "To our new students, welcome!" he began. "And to our old students, welcome back! Musain College is lucky to have you all. We sincerely hope to provide you with the best magical education possible. Old hands, you're free to go and unpack. New students - and those repeating their first year -" Enjolras cringed at that - "will stay with us. Professor Javert will be explaining our school policies, and then you can find your dormitories."

Professor Javert cleared his throat. "This is an institution built on rules and discipline. This school will be your home for the next three years – provided you follow the rules. Otherwise, I will personally escort you to the gate. You're not here to learn 'hocus-pocus'. You are here to learn to use your powers seriously. Consequently, you are not allowed to use magic in the hallways; in fact the only place you may display your powers is in the classrooms under teacher supervision." He glared at Enjolras. "Is that clear, Prince Enjolras? Thanks to you and your antics, the potions laboratory will not be accessible until next month at the earliest! You know how to conduct yourself if you wish to stay here this year."

"What the hell did you do?" Cosette muttered.

"Nothing!" Enjolras whispered back. "I just… may have… used magic to break open a locked cage and released a bunch of highly destructive Swamp Badgers into the lab." At Cosette's disapproving look, he said defensively, "I thought they were going to be dissected! I didn't realise they were that destructive! Or… that their teeth contain never-healing poison. My dad paid for the damages!"

Headmaster Myriel laughed. "Oh, don't scare them too much, professor! No need to be so stodgy!" Professor Javert straightened his monocle, looking as though he desperately wanted to roll his eyes. Headmaster Myriel turned and headed up the wide front steps of the school. "Now, follow me please." He led the students through the huge front doors and into the entrance hall. "Musain is one of the most highly regarded schools in the Magic Dimension," he began. "Becoming a full-fledged Faery is hard work, but I know that everyone here can do it. Keep in mind that the teachers and I are always here to help you. OK, enough of the boring stuff. Feel free to leave school and head into town; all I ask is that you are back for 9PM sharp. However, you must be careful. There are dangers lurking in this dimension, as in all dimensions."

"'Stay away from the Witches of Votirlu'," Enjolras muttered in a passable imitation of Headmaster Myriel's voice. "Now he's gonna say it."

"Please stay well away from the Witches of Votirlu," Myriel said seriously. "Alright, speech over. You are free until tomorrow. Classes start at 9AM sharp, so do be punctual!"

"Headmaster Myriel is the best, but Professor Javert is the worst," Enjolras groaned as they headed through the dormitory corridor. It was lined with green doors that had opaque yellow stained-glass panels, and Enjolras stopped to check the names on each one as he went.

"What was all that about staying away from the Witches of Votirlu?" Cosette asked. "He sounded really serious. Are Witches bad?"

"Oh right, yeah," Enjolras nodded. "So, there are three genus' of humanoids in the magical dimension. There are Faeries, like us. Our magic comes from positive forces, like happiness, belief, and love. Wizards, like those cute boys from Corinthe – Corinthe is the college for Wizards, run by Monsieur Lamarque. Their magic comes from neutral forces, like nature. And then there are Witches. Their magic comes from negative forces – anger, chaos, darkness, etcetera. Their college is Votirlu, run by seriously creepy Monsieur Thénardier. And some of those Witches can be _really_ mean."

"Is it possible to change between any of them?" Cosette asked curiously. "Or is it biological?"

"That's… less easy to answer," Enjolras replied. "With Wizards, it's pretty much biological, but there are different kinds of Wizards. With Faeries and Witches though, it depends on the person, really. If you wanted to be a Witch, but you're fuelled by, say, flowers or music or order, you're probably better off being a Faery. In our world, genus doesn't come from physical features, but from emotional ones instead." He straightened up from the plaque outside one of the doors. "Hey, we're in the same dorm!" he said excitedly.

Cosette breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God. It'll be a lot easier pretending to be Princess Ursule if you're with me."

Enjolras opened the door and gestured for Cosette to enter. Her jaw dropped instantly – it was less of a dormitory, and more a stylish apartment. The main room was large and bright, with pastel pink and purple walls, and green doorframes with yellow stained-glass panels similar to the main door. On the wall opposite the door, there was an enormous oval window with a glass door in the lower centre that led out to a pale pink balcony. The room was decorated with plushy green couches and armchairs with yellow and lilac cushions, and a pale wooden coffee table sat in the centre. Near the balcony was a matching larger table. Overall, it was an extremely nice apartment by college standards.

The blond boy pointed to a small list next to one of the four other doors. "I think I'm in this room."

Cosette looked at the lists on each other door until she found the one marked 'Ursule'. "Guess I'm in this one. I have a roommate, do you?

"Yeah. They're not here yet, though."

"Looks like I'm about to meet mine," Cosette murmured, noticing the silhouette on the other side of the door. She pushed it open and walked in. She'd barely had time to admire the blue and lilac beds with their neat yellow bedspreads when she stood on something that screamed.

Cosette immediately leapt backwards, yelping apologies. "I'm sorry! Shit, sorry, sorry!"

"Don't be," laughed an ethereal voice. A beautiful person (she couldn't tell what gender) stepped forwards, smiling. They had waist-length ginger hair, a tanned, freckly, thin face, wide green eyes, a delicate button nose, and long awkward limbs with delicate hands and feet.

"I'm Jehan Prouvaire," they introduced themselves. "Pronouns they/them, please." They were wearing clothes that looked both ridiculous and, somehow, correct: a pale yellow-green blouse with a frilly collar and cuffs, a floor-length pink skirt decorated with strawberry-shaped appliqués, and glittery pink sandals. They picked up the screaming thing – a creature with a large blue beak and long green tentacle-things. "Oh, calm down, you big baby, she didn't step on you _that_ hard." They tickled the thing's beak and smiled at Cosette. "This is Yorick. It's a Narratioflore Magnocaeruleo. It's not very eloquent yet, but we're getting there."

"O-OK," Cosette stuttered. She took a tentative step backwards – maybe it was safer to just wait in the living area until Jehan was settled. "I'll just go wait for you and your – what did you say it was? Horatio-magna-Leo to get settled in and – oof!" She had bumped into someone who had been standing behind her. "Sorry!" she groaned, turning to face a boy about the same height as her.

"Don't be!" the boy said cheerfully. "Narratioflore Magnocaeruleo, right? That you were trying to pronounce? Commonly known as the Talking Bluebell." So Yorick was a plant – a talking plant. That was pretty cool. "Walking backwards is illogical, but I guess weird behaviours are pretty normal when you're in a new environment," the boy continued, holding out a hand to her and smiling brightly. "I'm Courfeyrac!" Courfeyrac had curly brown hair, freckles, and bright green eyes full of excitement. He was wearing a purple sweater, a blue button-up shirt, green Capri-pants, purple-and-green sneakers and a wide smile.

"I'm Jehan Prouvaire!" Jehan replied. "They/them."

"Cool!" Courfeyrac grinned. "He/him."

"I'm, uh, Ursule," Cosette remembered. "She/her."

There was a thud from behind Courfeyrac, followed by a loud shout of "Fuck!" The three Faeries turned to see who it was – a girl with dark hair and narrow eyes – well, one visible narrow eye, with a dark brown iris. Her jagged Emo fringe covered her left eye, and the rest of her hair was knotted into two tight buns on either side of her head. "Fuck, sorry," she groaned. "I tripped over the table. I was just – _really_ into this music." She gestured to the bright orange headphones around her neck. An ethereal-sounding orchestral symphony was blasting from them – contrasting heavily with her punk-rock clothes; a yellow one-strap crop top, green cargo shorts and heavy black boots. Her eyeliner was sharper than a knife.

Courfeyrac dashed over to help her with her suitcase, which had burst open. "Here!" he said, handing her a set of blue-lacquered hair chopsticks. "I think these are yours?"

"Oh! Yes, thank you so much!" the girl said relievedly. "They're not broken, thank fuck." She smiled at him. "I'm Éponine."

"I'm Courfeyrac!"

"I'm Jehan," Jehan added, and Cosette waved.

"I'm Ursule."

Courfeyrac finished helping Éponine pick up her belongings. "Hey, I think I have a roommate, is it one of you?" he asked the room.

"It's me!" Enjolras poked his head out of his door. "I'm Enjolras."

Courfeyrac bounded over to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you! I'm Courfeyrac!"

"Is that all of us, then?" Jehan asked. "We could maybe go into town and get to know each other a bit better, since we're going to be sharing this room for the next three years most probably."

"Yeah!" Cosette enthused, forgetting her shyness. These people all seemed lovely. "We could go for pizza!"

Her fellow Faeries looked deeply confused. "Pizza?" Éponine asked. "What is 'pizza'?"

"It's the national dish of Veranda," Enjolras invented. "Right, Ursule?"

Cosette nodded hurriedly. "It's like, bread with tomato sauce and cheese and sometimes vegetables or meat, and you bake it in an oven. It's the best!"

They got a bus into town, from the special Musain College bus stop. It was almost the same as an Earth bus, to Cosette's surprise, except it didn't have wheels, instead hovering above the ground. When Courfeyrac found out that Cosette had never been to Magix City before, he insisted on covering her eyes until they were off the bus

"Can I look now?" Cosette asked.

"Not just yet," Courfeyrac replied. "OK… Now!" He removed his hands and Cosette opened her eyes. The Main Street of Magix City was… actually, it was surprisingly ordinary. The buildings had swirling, geometric shapes, and the cars and busses and trucks all hovered over the ground, but apart from that it was indistinguishable from a main street back in Paris.

Éponine noticed her expression. "You seem disappointed," she commented.

"Well, yeah," Cosette said. "It's so… _ordinary._ It's supposed to be the most magical city in the Magic Dimension, and this is it!"

"What were you expecting?" Éponine laughed.

"I dunno, dragons? Gnomes? Magic wand shops and back street magic duels?"

Enjolras laughed even more than Éponine. "That's fairy-tale stuff! This is the real world! Here, everything lives off its own magical energy. Magic is everywhere!"

Cosette yelped as she realised she'd stepped onto the road and narrowly missed being run over by a red hovercar. The driver snapped his fingers, and a space instantly opened up in the parking bay across the street, where he parked his vehicle. "Good heavens!" Cosette murmured.

"If you want to see magic, you've just got to look," Enjolras continued.

"Now let's go find some of this 'pizza'," Jehan smiled.

As the Faeries walked down the sidewalk, they passed an optician's store. Inside, an ogre was trying on various frames, but glanced up when he saw the Faeries pass by outside. He turned to the optician. "Excuse me, did you just see what I saw?" he asked, eyes wide.

"What?"

"A group of teenagers walked past. There were two blondes, a boy and a girl?"

"Oh, yeah," the optician replied. "They'll be new students from Musain College for Faeries. Today's the first day of the new term."

The ogre knew he'd recognised the blond kids! He immediately dashed out of the shop to follow them, ignoring the optician's startled yell and demand for him to come back and pay for the glasses still perched on his nose.

_I must warn my Highnesses immediately!_ the ogre thought to himself. _They're in Magix too, they can deal with things themselves this time!_ He pulled a mobile phone out of the pocket on his grimy dungarees and hit speed dial.

A high, cold voice answered. "Larbin, what do you want this time, you useless, smelly ogre?" it demanded crankily.

"Highness! The super-powerful Faery and her friends are in Magix City!" he replied hurriedly.

"Really?" the voice replied. "That sounds too good to be true! Prince Enjolras' sceptre will be ours! Now listen to me! You won't fail this time, or else I'll curse you so hard you'll have to look up to look down, got it?"

"No, no curses please!" Larbin begged. "I promise this time I won't fail!"

Cosette had been seriously surprised that they'd been able to find pizza in Magix. Her new friends were all stuffing their faces with it, and it cheered her to know that Faeries could like pizza as much as she did. Still, the pizza was the only thing she'd been satisfied with about her Magix City experience so far. The mobile phone signal was terrible. She groaned as she tried to call her dad to reassure him that she was OK. "I don't get it!" she tried holding the phone at different angles to get a signal. "There's no signal on my phone! There should be a ton of it out here!"

Courfeyrac grabbed it. "Let me take a look," he said. "I'm very good with electronic stuff. He clicked the home button, and immediately burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Éponine asked.

"This phone," Courfeyrac choked out. "It's practically prehistoric! Where did you get that thing?"

"It's the latest model," Cosette said confusedly. "It's a Samsung Galaxy A3! It's meant to be really good."

"On Earth, maybe," Enjolras murmured quietly.

Courfeyrac handed her back her phone. "Sorry," he apologised. "I shouldn't have laughed. That was rude."

In Paris, Jean Valjean picked up the ringing landline phone and answered. "Cosette!" he said relievedly. "How's the new college?"

"Salut, Papa!" Cosette said excitedly. She was using a payphone in Magix. "Everything is great here! I'm sharing an apartment with Enjolras and three other students! We all went out for pizza together… No, courses don't start until tomorrow morning, but I'll keep you posted! …Yes, I understand. I won't forget, I promise!" Her gaze was caught by a familiar hulking silhouette passing the phone booth. "Uh, Papa? I've gotta go now," she said uneasily. "I'm using someone else's phone pass. So, uh, hugs and kisses, I love you… bye!" Cosette pulled Courfeyrac's phone pass out of the slot in the booth; he'd lent her it to make up for laughing at her phone. Cosette followed the silhouette of the ogre who'd attacked Enjolras in Paris down the Main Street and into an alley, realising that it led back to the café where her fellow Faeries were sitting. She gasped softly as she realised the ogre was spying on her friends. He must have heard her gasp, because he turned back around, and Cosette hurriedly crouched behind some wooden crates. The ogre stumped past her hiding place and down another alley that led off of the main one. Cosette followed him, keeping herself low to the ground. She peeked above the crates when she reached the alley he'd vanished down, and gasped in realisation when she saw the ogre approach three more figures at the other end.

_Witches!_

The middle one, the tallest, dressed in blue and seemingly the leader, stepped forwards. He had white-blonde hair and icy blue eyes, and a high, cold voice. "Well, Larbin?" he demanded.

The ogre stuttered. "Uh, I saw the blond boy with the magic sceptre in a café, and, uh, he was with his friends."

"We've got to have that sceptre," the cold-voiced Witch muttered. Suddenly, one of his friends – the only girl, who had ankle-length brown hair and was wearing black and purple – turned and closed her yellow eyes as though in pain. She whispered something to her friends, but Cosette was too far to hear. The ogre moved in front of the Witches, and she couldn't lip-read either. "Move, you big lug!" she whispered in annoyance. "I can't see a thing!"

The brunette Witch whispered to her friends, "Shut up, dumbasses. We're being watched. I'll take care of it." She made sure that she was well behind Larbin, and clapped her hands twice. A clone of herself shot out of her chest, and she cackled quietly. "Now all I have to do it disappear, and she'll stay here." The Witch snapped her fingers, vanishing instantly. Larbin stepped aside, and to Cosette, it looked as though nothing had changed. "That's better," she murmured.

The brunette Witch reappeared behind her, and zapped her in the back with a burst of purple magic waves. "Boo!" she laughed.

Cosette yelped as she was thrown forwards. She landed at the feet of the three Witches, who smirked down at her.

The tall, white-haired Witch flicked the clone of the brunette Witch with his fingertip, and the clone vanished instantly. "So, did you like our little joke?" he grinned.

"Look behind you," a female voice came from behind Cosette, and she turned to face the real brunette Witch, who giggled meanly. "Surprise!" She walked around to stand with her cohorts.

Cosette scrambled backwards and raised a hand in warning. "Get back!" she snapped, sounding far more confident than she felt. "I'm a Faery!" Golden sparks burst from her palm, flying through the air towards the Witches, but faltering and vanishing after a few seconds.

The Witch in blue laughed. "You call that magic? I'll show you magic!" He raised his left palm, and shards of ice spun into existence, surrounding Cosette and trapping her. "Now _that_'s magic!"

The brunette Witch laughed in agreement. She blasted violet waves at Cosette. "And _that_'s magic!" The ice that had trapped Cosette vanished, and she was once again blasted off her feet.

The third Witch smirked. He had frizzy indigo hair, bright orange eyes, and wore green. He didn't say anything, he simply snarled and raised his hands, causing a small tornado to whirl into existence. It lifted Cosette up and deposited her so that she was grasping onto the side of a building. She screamed in terror.

Back at the café, Courfeyrac pushed his hair out of his face. "Where's Ursule? She should be back by now."

"Maybe she got lost?" Jehan suggested.

"Get down here!" the blue Witch snarled, blasting Cosette with an icy breeze and pulling her back down to Earth. "I'm not done yet!" As she landed, he shot more ice underneath her, sealing her up in an ice block. "The final touch," he sniggered, pacing towards the block. He scratched sharp fingernails down the side of the ice block. "So, you're a Faery, huh? Well, we are Patron-Minette!"

"Leave her alone!" Enjolras yelled at the Witch. "Take us on instead, I fucking dare you!"

The Witch snorted at the sight of the four Faeries, who had gone searching for their friend when she hadn't returned. "Pathetic," he laughed. "Larbin, they're all yours. Have fun."

The ogre dashed towards the Faeries, snarling. The four of them leapt away from him, and together they cried, "Transform!"

Courfeyrac was the first to change, with a shout of "Courfeyrac, Faery of Technology!" He now wore a lilac playsuit with a green gem in the centre of the chest, pale blue elbow-length fingerless gloves and knee-high boots, a pale blue headband with a green gem, and he had triangular green translucent wings.

Jehan cried "Jehan, Faery of Nature!" and was now wearing a pale pink long-sleeved playsuit with a dark pink bodice and a green belt. Their ankle boots were the same pale pink, and the flower charm on their green choker matched their hairclip. Their wings were pale green and petal-shaped.

Éponine shouted, "Éponine, Faery of Music!" She now wore bright yellow headphones that matched her dress. It had one strap, and the midriff was made of blue mesh. She wore matching blue armbands and knee-high yellow boots, and her blue wings were more traditionally fairy-like, four-pronged with rounded tips.

Enjolras shouted "Enjolras, Faery of the Shining Sun!" and was once again wearing his red top, shorts and boots with matching black accessories, and his ring had once again become his sceptre. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you," he grinned, twirling the sceptre with acrobatic ease.

The violet-haired Witch narrowed his eyes. "The boy with the sceptre!" he snarled.

Courfeyrac raised his hands and shouted, "Static Sphere!" A blast of green energy surrounded the ogre, crackling like electricity, forming into a circular cage that lifted him off his feet.

Éponine spun and blasted magenta light at the cage. "Sonic Blast!" The entire alleyway shook with low-frequency vibrations.

"Golden Pollen!" Jehan shouted, blowing on their hands. As though they had been holding the pollen, it scattered over the ground and burst into bloom instantly, wrapping the ogre in an enormous glowing vine and shaking him. The cage and the vibrations vanished, and the vine flung Larbin through the air, sending him crashing against the crates Cosette had been hiding behind. The blue Witch groaned.

"What a blockhead." He turned to the Faeries. "Alright, losers, you asked for it!" With impressive dramatic flair, he grabbed the corners of his cloak and unfurled them, sending more diamond-sharp shards of ice towards them.

"Get behind me!" Courfeyrac yelled. "Firewall!" A bright green shield appeared in front of him, and the ice shattered against it.

The Witch in green looked furious. He sent blast after blast of lightening at the shield until it vanished and Courfeyrac was knocked off his feet.

The ice Witch cackled. "Prepare to join your little friend here!" He gestured to Cosette and raised his arms above his head.

Enjolras raised his sceptre. "No thanks," he said, sounding surprisingly unworried. "See you later, we're out of here." He swung his sceptre through the air, and he and his fellow Faeries, including Cosette, vanished from the alleyway as the blue Witch unleashed a flurry of icy blasts.

When the ice settled, the blue Witch prepared to gloat, but his eyes widened in fury as he realised the Faeries had all vanished.

"Cosette, wake up!" Cosette opened her eyes slowly. Enjolras was smiling down at her, and she felt warm all over. "Cosette, you're OK now! Y'know, for an Earthling, you did great. You were very brave to try and take them on alone." She realised he was using his sun magic to warm her up.

"Enjolras," three voices chorused sternly behind him. Enjolras turned and grinned sheepishly at Jehan, Courfeyrac and Éponine.

"Is there anything we should know about 'Ursule of Veranda'?" Jehan glared. "Or should I say, 'Cosette of Earth'?"

"Uh, well…" Enjolras stuttered. For such a small, soft-spoken person, Jehan's glare was quite frankly terrifying. "So we might have been fibbing a bit about her background… I'll explain everything back at Musain."

Cosette giggled a little. Enjolras' sheepishness was pretty funny.

The sceptre transported them straight to the courtyard of Musain college, and Enjolras breathed a sigh of relief at the apparent lack of teachers – until a searchlight beamed down on them. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" Professor Javert snapped.

Headmaster Myriel stood beside him. "We were worried sick about you," he said concernedly. "And with good reason! Why are you all transformed?" Enjolras began to stutter an explanation, but Myriel shook his head. "Never mind, all of you go straight to bed. We'll go over the rules in the morning."

The Faeries headed past the two teachers, but Professor Javert stopped Cosette in her tracks. "Not so fast, Princess Ursule!" he snapped. "I did a background check! Isn't there something you'd like to tell us?"

Cosette sighed unhappily. All that trouble for nothing. She knew she would be expelled for this. "I'm so sorry," she whispered unhappily. "I'm not Princess Ursule of Veranda."

"Ha!" Javert glared. "I knew it!"

"I'm sorry, this was all my idea," Enjolras started, but Cosette shook her head.

"No, it's alright, Enj. I'm Cosette Valjean of Earth," she explained to Myriel and Javert.

Javert's eyes widened so much that his monocle fell out. "A world outwith the Magical Dimension?" he said in shock. "It's not possible!"

"And yet, she must be magical, as the barrier let her through," Myriel said, deep in thought.

Cosette shrugged. "I met Enjolras yesterday, when he was attacked in my home city, Paris. I… used some sort of magic to help him, and he suggested I come here with him to find out more about my powers." She gestured to her friends – at least, she hoped she could still call them that. "They're all transformed because the thing that attacked Enjolras in Paris attacked me here tonight, they were only trying to protect me." She gazed at Professor Javert desperately. "Please, I beg of you, Monsieur, don't expel my friends! They're good people. I know I have deceived you, and I accept whatever punishment you give me. Even if it is expulsion."

Javert opened his mouth, but abruptly closed it again when Headmaster Myriel raised one hand. "We will not expel you, dear," he assured Cosette. "I must say, I am curious as to these… powers. Earth has been magic-free for centuries, but perhaps…" he trailed off, but then his face grew sterner again. "Of course, you all will have to face punishment for use of magic outside of school, but none of you will be expelled. As it is the first day, you can expect to receive your punishment sometime in the next two weeks. Professor Javert will call you into his office when the time comes." He clapped his hands twice. "Off to bed now, all of you. Quite enough excitement for one day, I think."

As the Faeries hurried off to their apartment, Myriel once again squinted in confusion. "I thought the last Earth Faery vanished hundreds of years ago."

"Indeed they did, Headmaster," Javert screwed his monocle back into place.

"Well then," Myriel murmured. "Who is Cosette?"

"Who?" Enjolras, Jehan, Courfeyrac and Éponine chorused.

Cosette smiled and got up from her bed. "Les Amis! If we're going to be a group we should have a name, don't you think? 'Les Amis' is French for 'The Friends', and after tonight, I can say with no doubt that you guys are the greatest friends I'll ever meet."

"I like it," Éponine said thoughtfully. "'Les Amis'. I'd be proud to call you guys my friends."

"Me too," Enjolras added.

"Me three!" beamed Jehan.

"That's grammatically incorrect," Courfeyrac chuckled. "But it is pretty funny. And I agree, 'Les Amis' is a great name! A name is good for quick reference."

"Those Witches call themselves 'Patron-Minette'," Cosette added. "That's where I got the idea. Although, I find it pretty amusing that they chose a name that roughly translates to 'Boss Kitty'."

As her new friends fell about laughing, Cosette hugged herself. She really was lucky to have met them.

**_NOTES:_**_ If you're enjoying this, please review! To paraphrase John Mulaney, "In terms of instant relief, reviews are like heroin."_


	4. Parties and Plots

The sun shone through the windows of Professor Wizgiz's classroom, lighting up the first class of the year. Wizgiz himself was perched on the desk as Les Amis and their classmates filed into the room. He was the only Leprechaun on staff; a sprightly little man with spectacular curly sideburns, wearing a green three-piece suit with a yellow shirt and a huge green hat. He spoke in a sharp Irish accent, and addressed them as they entered. "Good morning, students. For those of you who haven't met me yet, I am Professor Wizgiz, and as always, it befalls me to lead the first class of the year: Transfiguration. On this course, you will learn the classic magical ability to transform an object from one form to another. We're going to start with the most basic type of transfiguration: self-transfiguration." With the class all seated, he leapt off the desk and scrunched up his face. With a loud snapping noise, his features morphed into those of Professor Javert. The entire class burst into applause. Javert-Wizgiz laughed. "Oh, that's nothing. After a few years of practise, you'll all be able to do even better than that!" He leapt onto Enjolras' desk, and the blond boy jumped in surprise. "Of course," the professor continued, "every ending has a beginning. So we're going to start with a simple exercise: changing the colour of your own hair!" He clapped his hands, and a mirror appeared on every desk. "Look at your reflection, and concentrate on changing the colour of your hair!"

Cosette glanced around at her friends. Jehan's ginger locks had turned neon green, while Éponine's ebony buns glowed bright blue. Courfeyrac's hair was turning purple, and Enjolras' curls had turned a vivid scarlet. She focused hard on her mirror, willing her hair to turn from pale gold to bright pink, scrunching her face and concentrating… nothing. She sighed as she gazed at the rainbow of her classmates' heads. Professor Wizgiz smiled encouragingly at her.

"Don't worry, Cosette," he said. "If at first you don't succeed, try again!"

Cosette smiled back. It was nice to have a professor who didn't yell at you for mistakes.

After class, Cosette went straight back to the room she shared with Jehan, and tried again, but to no avail. Enjolras came in to help her, but he looked more than a little frustrated. "Cosette, it's OK if you can't do it. It was your first class, being unable to do one of the exercises isn't the end of the world."

Cosette shook her head. "I was nearly expelled yesterday, Enjolras. I don't want to fall behind in classwork at all. Please, just one more try?" She held up the mirror.

"OK, fine," Enjolras sighed. "Now, close your eyes and think of a colour. Concentrate on that colour, and imagine your hair turning that colour. Imagine the colour slowly spreading from the root of your hair to the tip."

This time, Cosette could feel tingles in her scalp. She excitedly opened her eyes, but sighed when she realised all that had happened was her fringe reacting to magic as though she'd touched a Vandergraph generator; it was sticking up on end, crackling with golden sparks. She flung herself back on the bed with a groan.

"'Sette, you're not concentrating!" Enjolras chastised her. "I can feel it. You've got a bunch of thoughts zipping around your head like a flock of bunnies!" He chuckled. "Your hair is very punk, though."

"At least something happened," Jehan offered from where they were watering their Narratioflore Magnocaeruleo. They sat down on the bed next to Cosette and swatted at Enjolras, who was still giggling. "Oh, stop laughing at her!" they smiled.

Cosette sighed even harder. "Why should he?" she asked rhetorically. "I mean, look at this, I'm ridiculous!"

Jehan smoothed her fringe down. "No, you're not," they said firmly. "All you need is a bit of practice."

Cosette sat up. "Can I ask you guys something?" she said tentatively. When they nodded, she continued. "Why are you here at Musain?"

Enjolras stood up. "So I can become a real Faery! Powerful, kind, able to help people! I want to make this world a fair place, where everyone can be happy – like my parents." He sighed sadly. "They're divorced, you know. I wish I could at least just make them listen to each other."

"I want to become a real Faery too," Jehan added. "I wish I could save the environment, starting with endangered flowers. But I'm also here because I love to learn. What about you, 'Sette?"  
Cosette got up and paced over to the window that looked out over the courtyard. "That's the problem. My powers are so new, and up until now I was a pretty ordinary kid. I'm not really sure _what_ I'm doing here."

At breakfast the next day, Headmaster Myriel made an announcement. "As is the tradition between the Magic Schools, the Gala for new students will be held tonight! Students from the Musain College for Faeries and from the Corinthe College for Wizards will gather here in this castle in order to perform the traditional Welcome Gift Exchange ceremony."

The room erupted in excited whispers as Faeries speculated on what the Gala would be like. Professor Javert clapped his hands sharply. "Silence!" he shouted. "Headmaster Myriel is speaking, let's show a little respect!"

Myriel chuckled. "Thank you, Professor. One more thing." He surveyed the students with a smile. "I am calling on all of your creative talents to prepare the dining room for the party. Today's classes are cancelled, and may you do us proud!"

**Meanwhile, about 5 miles away…**

Votirlu College had a far more threatening appearance than Musain College. It was a spiralling castle made of smooth purplish stone, with huge scarlet stained-glass windows and circular pillars. The roofs were turret-style, and the entire structure seemed to pulse with dark magic.

The main hall of the building was right in the centre. Built like a lecture theatre with about 100 seats on banks that all looked down into a central stage with an enormous throne, it was currently full of Senior Year Witches - including the coven, Patron-Minette, who had attacked the Amis a few days before. At that moment, all of the students were watching Headmaster Thénardier intently.

He was an odd-looking man, with curly red hair and yellow eyes, teeth that seemed too big for his mouth, and dull skin that had turned yellowish. His nose was sharp, but not as sharp as his scarlet pupils. He wore long dark red robes, patterned with strange symbols, and his voice was a combination of gravelly and smooth.

"My young Witches," he began. "I have summoned you here because I have a sad piece of news to share. Musain College is hosting a party tonight, and once again the Witches of Votirlu have not been invited." The Witches booed loudly, and Thénardier smirked. "Yes, Witches, I agree with you, but this is an excellent opportunity to test your cursing skills. It is the duty of every Witch in this room to crash that party and thoroughly ruin it for the Faeries. They've snubbed us, and we'll make them pay! So today's assignment is to come up with a way to ruin the party! Submit your proposals, and I will select the nastiest. May the worst Witch win!"

As the room erupted in cheers and the Witches began jotting notes down for ideas, the brunette member of Patron-Minette, whose name was Claquesous, turned to her companions. "What do you think?" she asked. "Shall we come up with a little scheme?"

"Why not?" the ice Witch, whose name was Babet, agreed.

The third Witch, who went by the name Gueulemer, groaned loudly. "Why though? We'd just be wasting our time!"

Babet leaned back in his seat. "Trust me, Mer, it will be worth it." A grin slowly spread across his face.

Back in Musain, Les Amis were heading back to their apartment. Courfeyrac looked like he didn't know what to do with himself. "Classes are cancelled, and it's just our second day," he said. "This place is, like, the opposite of Zenith, my home planet."

"What do we have to do for the party?" Cosette asked, turning to Enjolras.

Enjolras shrugged. "From what I learned last year, look pretty and avoid talking about politics. Some Wizards have surprisingly strong views on the Andros Division."

Cosette was about to ask what the Andros Division was, but Jehan had twirled ahead of the group, looking exuberant. "This will be so fun!" they laughed. They snapped their fingers, and vines spiralled up the wall, sprouting delicate pink flowers. "What do you think of Fumigari Odoribus for the decorations?" The flowers began emitting a sweet, light scent, and all the Faeries in the surrounding area breathed in delightedly.

"I'll DJ," Éponine smiled. "What's a party without music?"

"All you have to do, Sette," Enjolras said, "is worry about what to wear."

Back in their room, Cosette admired Jehan's gorgeous dress. The bodice was fuchsia, the skirt baby-pink, and it had ruffles running down the sides. The straps were dark green, and three fell over each of Jehan's shoulders. They were wearing their hair in two Princess Leia style space buns, but most of it tumbled down their back, and a pink floaty veil-thing was clipped into their hair. Golden bangles glittered at their wrists. They looked amazing, and Cosette said so.

Jehan blushed happily. "Thank you! Now, let's see your dress!"

Cosette laughed awkwardly. "I don't exactly have a fancy dress with me… do you think they'd let me in like this?" She gestured to her skinny jeans and lacy top.

Jehan shook their head sadly. "The gala's a pretty formal event. Maybe Éponine has a dress you could borrow?"

Unfortunately, Éponine didn't have another dress, but she did present a solution: shopping. Courfeyrac and Enjolras both had their suits ready, but they agreed to come with to help Cosette choose a dress. They hopped on a bus, and were in Magix City in 15 minutes. This time, Cosette was a little overwhelmed with how many clothes shops there were, and Éponine pushed her into one called _Xeron_. The first dress she tried on was fuchsia with ruffles, but they all agreed it was a little too similar to Jehan's dress. The next one was yellow and pleated with matching elbow-length gloves, but the general consensus was that it was too similar in colour to her hair, and Jehan suggested maybe looking at quirkier styles.

Cosette emerged from the changing room in a shiny blue dress. It had one strap and showed off her belly-button, and she looked gorgeous. The Amis all nodded in approval, and Cosette glanced at the price tag, her face falling. §135.50 - far too expensive for a dress she would most likely wear only once. "Too expensive," she sighed, and vanished back inside the changing room.

Enjolras reached for his wallet. "I'll pay for it -" he offered, but Jehan shook their head.

"You might offend her," they pointed out. "We don't know Earth customs."

Outside the shop, Cosette sighed in defeat. "Now what?"

"It's getting kinda late," Courfeyrac pointed out. "We should probably head back soon."

Cosette smiled at him. "It's fine, you guys go back. I'll find _something_."

Her friends waved goodbye, and Cosette decided to look for a thrift store - but she found something even better: a 50% off everything sale in the window of a shop called _Bunni._

After nearly half-an-hour of trawling through the _Must Go_ rack, she struck gold: a dress the same colour as the one in _Xeron_, but far cheaper - §18.99! She hurried to buy it and catch a bus back to Musain.

At Votirlu, Patron-Minette had been called into Headmaster Thénardier's office, and he was surveying them through narrow yellow eyes. "Of all the ideas I've seen, I've never seen anything as despicable as yours!" he was snarling. "It's horrible, it's ghastly, it's disgusting - in other words, it's the best!" His snarl became a grin. "Well done, you three. Great start to the year."

"Thanks, Professor," Babet said silkily.

Thénardier got up from his desk and began to pace down the room. "Don't let me down," he warned.

"You can trust us, Professor," Claquesous reassured him.

Cosette hurried back to Musain with about 20 minutes to spare. She dashed into her room; Jehan was nowhere to be seen, but Wolter was asleep on her bed. She chatted to him while she searched for a pair of scissors. "Putain de merde, Wolter, I have 20 minutes to fix this dress! It's way too long." Giving up on the scissors, she pursed her lips in thought. "Well… I guess it's worth a shot," she decided. She concentrated, and suddenly a narrow beam of light was shooting from her pointer finger. "Booyah!" she whispered, and carefully directed it along the hem of the dress. It was like a laser cutter in its precision, melting the threads together so they wouldn't come loose - but it worked a little too well. The dress was beginning to smoke around the hemline, and Cosette yelped and smothered it with the duvet. The fire out, she opened the window to clear the room of the smoky smell, and groaned when she recognised the boys who were currently walking through the courtyard with their classmates. Grantaire, Bahorel, Combeferre and Prince Marius were all there, and her dress was charred and still too long, Goddammit! Cosette decided to leave her room and search the art department for a pair of scissors.

In a tunnel somewhere underneath Musain, Babet was leading Patron-Minette down it with the aid of a flashlight. "This is it," he grinned. "What did I tell you? These tunnels have been abandoned for centuries, or at least since the invention of phones. Back then, they were used to move between the three schools in emergencies."

Claquesous squinted at a map. "The entrance to the Musain tunnels are right up ahead. We're almost there then."

"Let the fun begin," Gueulemer chuckled. He'd been much more on board with the plan since he'd found out what it would involve.

Cosette opened what she hoped was the door to the art department and found a set of stairs going down. She tentatively started down them, but stopped abruptly when she heard voices.

"How much further?" a girl groaned.

"Don't ask me," a boy snapped. "You're the one with the map."

Cosette recognised the voices with a mounting horror. They were the Witches who had attacked her in Magix City! She darted back up the stairs and hid behind the door.

The three Witches exited the tunnel and headed down the corridor, Cosette silently following them. They stopped next to a chest stamped with a triangular symbol. "The Corinthe coat of arms," the girl said. "I wonder what those simpletons are going to give the Faeries?"

"Whatever they are, we'll use them to wreak havoc and spread panic," the white-haired boy said. "That will give us a chance to get the ring. Go on, Claquesous, show us where it is."

The girl, who Cosette now knew to be called Claquesous, grinned coolly. "With pleasure, Babet." She closed her eyes and focussed hard, creating a bubble in front of them.

Enjolras appeared in the bubble. He slid his sceptre-ring off his finger, and carefully shut it in a jewellery box, before tucking the box into a chest of drawers.

The bubble vanished, and Babet grinned. "Excellent work, Claq. Now we know where the ring is." He turned to the third Witch. "Gueulemer, time to do your thing."

Gueuelemer grinned. "At last!" He blasted the chest open, revealing several beautifully crafted Fabergé eggs. Claquesous touched one with a gloved hand.

"Aww," she hummed. "They're enchanted to decorate themselves to match the Aura of the Faery touching it."

"How tacky," Babet rolled his eyes. "I much prefer our plan. Ready?" The three Witches raised their hands, and Babet spoke. "These eggs will become Snakerat eggs…"

"That will hatch at the touch of a Faery," Claquesous continued.

"And spread terror all over!" Gueulemer finished.

The eggs glowed, and their beautiful white shells were suddenly yellow and orange swirls. Cosette shook in horror from her hiding spot behind a heavy velvet curtain. Patron-Minette cackled as a group - Cosette wondered if Votirlu offered a lecture on group-cackling - and headed off down the corridor.

When they reached a dead end, Claquesous snapped her fingers and the wall briefly vanished, long enough for them to leave the building and hurry around the side of it. Babet led his cousins into a thicket, and crouched among the bushes. "We'll hide back here so we can enjoy the show," he grinned, pointing to the huge yellow stained-glass dome of the Musain dining room.

Cosette herself entered the dining room, which was now devoid of tables and benches and instead had several white-clothed buffets lining the walls. It was full of Faeries and Wizards mingling. She darted through the crowd, searching for her friends, when she bumped into a Wizard. Cosette stumbled backwards and then blinked in recognition. Grantaire!

The tall, freckly redhead smiled at her in greeting. "Cosette! Hi!"

"Hi Grantaire," Cosette smiled.

"I'm so relieved to see you here," Grantaire laughed. "At least I know someone from Musain already."

"It's nice to see you," Cosette smiled awkwardly. She'd just spotted Enjolras' red suit across the room. "Sorry, Grantaire, I have to go."

"...OK," Grantaire said in confusion as she darted away. "See you later?"

Cosette found the Amis and dragged them out into the corridor. "Cosette, what on Magix -" Courfeyrac began.

"This is an emergency!" Cosette explained. "Those Witches from yesterday, Patron-Minette, were here! They've cast a spell on the presents from Corinthe, I saw them! Apparently it will involve something called a 'Snakerat'."

"Snakerat?" Courfeyrac said in thought. "Let me just consult my database." He raised his palm and a holographic image formed of a small spiny creature with sharp fangs. "They're of the genus Morsus Foeda, they live in swamps and eat mainly toads, and they're highly aggressive. Their teeth are venomous -"

"Slimy, aggressive and venomous, like the Witches," Enjolras said in disgust. "But what's in it for them?"

"The Witches want to provoke a huge panic and create a diversion to get their hands on your sceptre," Cosette explained.

Éponine narrowed her eyes. "That's so underhanded, sounds about right," she muttered to herself, then louder, "We've got to stop those eggs from being handed out."

"Too late," Jehan groaned, pointing back into the dining room. Combeferre and Prince Marius were carrying the chest to the centre of the room.

"Surprise Eggs," Éponine murmured.

"Yes, and the surprise is a very cuddly Snakerat," Cosette groaned.

Enjolras took charge. "We have to perform a counterspell, fast! Quick, join hands and form a circle." They did so, and Enjolras closed his eyes in concentration. "Repeat after me, quae quondam iterum fiat."

"Quae quondam iterum fiat," they chorused, focussing hard on the eggs. They felt a ripple pass over them, and opened their eyes. Prince Marius was handing out the white eggs, and they were changing colour for every Faery! The Amis breathed a sigh of relief, and listened to the chorus of "Wow!"s and "Aww, beautiful!"s.

A voice nearby made the Amis all turn. Dark-haired Prince Marius was offering Enjolras an egg, with a shy smile on his face. "I hope this egg brings you luck," he said. His cheeks were flushed.

Enjolras blushed a little. "T-thanks," he stammered, taking it. It glowed golden and suddenly its shell was black in the centre, fading to purple, then scarlet, then orange, then yellow and at the ends were little blue and white swirls.

Jehan smiled at Marius. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a spare one, would you?" they asked. Marius glanced around.

"I think so," he replied. "We brought a spare in case any of them broke."

"Could I borrow it?" Jehan requested, batting their ridiculously long eyelashes. Marius nodded with a smile and went to find the spare Surprise Egg. He returned and handed it to Jehan, who didn't hold it, but rather made it levitate before dropping golden dust over it.

"What did you do to it?" Cosette asked. Jehan smirked.

"I left a nice little surprise of my own for those three Witches. Now hurry up and go change!"

Cosette smiled fondly and headed back to the apartment.

Outside, a great deal of the foliage surrounding Patron-Minette turned to ice and shattered. Babet could barely contain his fury. "I don't believe this!" he snarled. "The spell didn't work!"

"Calm down, Babet," Gueulemer smirked. "So the spell didn't work, big deal. Sooner or later that ring will be ours."

Cosette entered the apartment and made to unzip her jeans. "Sorry, Wolter, no time to play," she told the little Dutch rabbit, who was offering her his tummy in a 'please stroke me!' sort of way. Suddenly, a thud from the living space made her jump, and she darted out into the main room of the apartment. Enjolras' bedroom door had burst open, and his jewellery box was floating towards the main door! Patron-Minette must have enchanted it! She chased it out of the apartment and down the stairs, and out into the courtyard. "Hey! Come back here!" she yelled at it. The box paid her no mind, and continued out the gates. Cosette pursued it around the side of the building. "Hey, where are you going?" she yelled at it.

In the foliage, Babet narrowed his eyes. "Someone's coming this way," he muttered, then squinted through the branches and saw the telltale glint of gold. "And so is the ring!"

As she reached the foliage, Cosette pounced and captured the little golden box. "Gotcha!" she said triumphantly.

Babet grit his teeth in annoyance, as did his cousins. "Unbelievable!" he hissed. "She's walking away with the ring!" He grabbed Claquesous by the hair and Gueulemer by the collar, and yanked them out of the bushes. "Nosy little missy," he snarled at Cosette. "Why can't you mind your own business?"

Cosette turned on her heel, her face going pale with shock. Gueulemer didn't waste any time this time. He blasted lightening directly at her head. Cosette jumped to avoid it, and it hit her exposed side. She fell to the ground, pain blooming up her side. Babet snatched the jewellery box off the ground. "Let's go, dumbasses," he muttered, and the Witches vanished in a cloud of black smoke. Cosette slowly got to her feet, groaning quietly, and headed back into the castle.

As she passed the wishing well in the centre of the courtyard, she met Jehan. "Cosette! Are you OK?" they asked worriedly. "You were gone so long, I got worried!"

Cosette nodded. "I ran into Patron-Minette and we had a little spat. I tried to stop them, but they got away with Enjolras' ring!"

Jehan shook their head and smiled. "Nah, they didn't," they reassured her. Suddenly their eyes widened. "Jeez-oh, Sette, what did they do to you?"

"Nothing, I mean, I took a lightening bolt to the side, but…" Cosette glanced down at her side and gasped softly. There was a pale, oddly shaped mark on her waist. "Whoa," she said softly. "Lichtenburg figures."

"I have a poultice that can make them disappear -" Jehan started, but Cosette shook her head.

"Not right now. We have a party to go to!"

Jehan insisted on helping Cosette finish her dress. Turns out, they were a lowkey expert on dressmaking. "A little snip here…and tie here…" they murmured. "And…done!"

Cosette felt like Cinderella entering the party late. Jehan had lent her some shoes that perfectly matched her dress, which was now really more of a top and skirt with cool fingerless gloves that had dark blue thread woven around the wrists. They had made a kind of braided belt, and had added a matching choker. With her hair in an elegant high ponytail, Cosette felt like a fairy princess from one of her storybooks back on Earth. Flushing a little at the mix of envious and enamoured stares, she walked through the crowd until she found her friends.

"So, Jehan, you never did tell us what you did with the egg," she smiled.

Jehan laughed. "Oh yeah! I just did a simple switcheroo. Enjolras has his ring back, and the egg's in the jewellery box."

Cosette giggled delightedly. "Man, I'd love to see Babet's face when he opens the box and the egg turns black to match his heart," she joked. Jehan smiled serenely.

"Well… it won't go quite like that," they said cryptically. "It'll be funny though!"

In his room at Votirlu, Babet carefully prised open the jewellery box. To his surprise, a little white egg sat on the velvet lining. He picked it up, wondering if the ring was inside, then nearly dropped it in surprise when a deep crack appeared in it. "What the -!" he gasped, as the egg hatched. A little grey duckling sat in his palm, staring up at him. It snuggled into his hand.

"Mummy!" it quacked loudly.

"What?!" Babet yelled in shock. "'Mummy'?"

The duckling hopped onto his shoulder and snuggled up to him. "Mummy!"

Cosette smiled as she watched her friends enjoy the gala. Someone tapped her shoulder, and she turned to Grantaire blushing the same colour as his hair. "W-would you like to dance?" he asked her, stuttering a little.

She smiled delightedly. "I'd love to!" Cosette grinned, and took the hand he offered her. Grantaire twirled her under his arm, and led her onto the dancefloor in an elegant waltz.

"You're not going to run away this time, are you?" he teased.

"I promise," Cosette laughed. "As late as I was to the party, I'm not actually Cinderella, so there's no time limit on my shoes."

Grantaire looked adorably confused. "Who's Cinderella?" he asked.

Cosette laughed and shook her head. "Never mind." She'd had quite enough excitement for one day, and was perfectly content to simply dance the rest of the night away.

_**NOTES:** Thoughts? :D The pairings might seem odd now, but all will be revealed in time!_


	5. Trips and Trolls

The castle that housed the Musain College for Faeries was surrounded on all sides by a forest of pine trees. It was home to all sorts of interesting magical creatures, but we'll get to them later. About five minutes walk through the trees in front of the castle (and across the road that the bus to Magix City travelled along) there was a beautiful lake called Lake Roccaluce. Its banks stretched between the three schools of Magix, and there was a different type of bank for each school. At Musain's bank, there was a beautiful sandy beach. At Corinthe, there was a dam with a walkway on top that made for a lovely viewing point. At Votirlu, however, there was a rather nasty, marshy forest known as the Black Mud Swamp. It was in this swamp that Professor Palladium, a tall, dorkish elf with a stutter, fresh out of teacher training, chose to hold his first field activity. The class was one on Potionology, and Palladium insisted that in order to work with potions, you had to first work with nature.

"So, as I was s-saying, today's exercise will be f-far more hands-on than our p-previous classwork," he was saying, when one of the students, a rather snobbish girl named Amaryl, interrupted him.

"Professor Palladium! A mosquito just bit me!"

"Y-yes, well," Palladium stuttered. "It's just a mosquito, and we __are__ in a swamp."

"But look where it got me!" Amaryl complained. She rolled up her shorts to point at her mid-thigh. Palladium was looking more awkward by the minute.

"Y-yes, well, to p-put it - get straight to the p-p-point," he stammered, "um…"

The class burst into giggles. Cosette's heart went out to the man. "Poor professor," she whispered to Enjolras. "They shouldn't give him such a hard time!"

"I know," Enjolras sighed. "If he was more confident he'd have it easier. Still, they should be more respectful to the guy who is literally teaching us survival skills."

Palladium had finally gathered his thoughts. "A good Faery," he said firmly, "should always listen to the voice of Nature. We cannot survive if we don't listen to what Nature tells us." Cosette noticed his stutter vanished whenever he was speaking about something he was passionate about. "Today's exercise will put your survival skills to the test. You've all been put into groups of five, so you're ready to begin. You have three hours to find your way out of the Black Mud Swamp and to the clearing in Roccaluce forest __without__ using magic. Remember to listen carefully to the voice of Nature, and follow its advice," he instructed, before snapping his fingers and disappearing an a burst of golden sparks.

Left to their own devices, the Faeries split off into their groups. Les Amis were lucky enough to have been put together, and they gathered in a huddle to discuss the game plan. Jehan, knowing the most about nature, was voted leader, and they decided to head down seemingly the only path in the swamp. Unfortunately, the path was a dead end, cut off by a rather murky-looking outlet of Lake Roccaluce. Most people would have looked for another way around; Jehan decided to plunge right into it. They were up to their knees in muddy water, and beckoned their friends to follow with an altogether not-that-reassuring assurance of "Don't worry, our boots are waterproof!"

Enjolras was the last into the water, and he groaned at the feeling of muddy water lapping at his thighs. "Ugh, this is minging! Why couldn't we have found a way around, Jehan?"

Jehan shrugged, and Courfeyrac nodded in agreement. "I'd say this mud puddle is potentially problematic, but that's putting it mildly," he winced as a particularly slimy piece of bogweed brushed past his thigh. "It smells like sulphur."

Éponine's eyes widened. "Bog is definitely __not__ supposed to smell of sulphur! We need to get out of here!" An enormous bubble forming in the water in front of her, bigger than her head, seemed to prove her point. The Amis all dashed for the opposite bank, crouching behind a large rotting log. Cosette picked up a stick and swung it back.

"OK, let's see," she murmured, lobbing the stick directly towards the bubble. It burst, releasing bright yellow gas that smelled worse than a chain-smoker eating an off egg sandwich. Her eyes widened. "Damn. We were lucky, getting out of there when we did."

"A whim is one thing, but that was a pretty big risk, Jehan," Courfeyrac said crossly. "If we'd popped one of those while we were still in that bog, we would have all been toast."

**Meanwhile, at Votirlu…**

The coven known as Patron-Minette, made up of Babet, Claquesous and Gueulemer, stalked into the room shared by Gueulemer and Babet. Gueulemer's frizzy purple hair was even more on-end than usual. "Ugh," he groaned, flinging himself down on his bed. "I can't stand Professor Zarathustra. She always forces me to make an effort."

Claquesous meanwhile had stormed over to Gueulemer's wardrobe and was thumping on the door. "Larbin! You useless smelly ogre! Come out now!" She swung open the door, revealing the group's ogre lackey, and put her hand to her nose at the smell. "Ugh, why do you smell worse than usual?" she groaned.

The ogre shrugged. "Probably shouldn't have eaten those beans. Sorry, Highness."

"Never mind the beans," Gueulemer scowled. "We've gotta find you a hiding place with better ventilation."

"You've got to be more careful, Larbin," Claquesous agreed. "Nobody can know that you're here."

"School regulations are clear when it comes to beasts, animals, or other pets," Babet said. He glared at the little grey duckling that followed the ogre out of the wardrobe, quacking happily at the sight of Babet. Babet ignored it as best he could. "As I was saying, we've got to be more careful. We screwed up the back-to-school assignment, and we broke another rule today by making ourselves invisible to skip Viridium's lecture."

"But we're Witches, aren't we?" Gueulemer said in frustration. "We're supposed to break rules."

Babet rolled his eyes and turned to the ogre. "Now, what was so important that you had to call my mobile phone in the middle of the day?" he snapped.

"Sorry, Highness, but I had an urgent message," the ogre groaned. "I was down in the tunnels near Corinthe College and I overheard them talking."

"And?" Claquesous snapped. "Get to the point!"

"And I heard that the Wizards were bringing my hunting troll to Magix City today to be turned over to the police!" Larbin continued. "And then it will be sent to the Septumium Prison!"

"That hunting troll was useless anyway," Babet shrugged. "It didn't even manage to overpower two level one Faeries!"

Gueulemer had seen the problem quicker than Babet had. "Trolls are pretty stupid. They have no willpower to protect against mind-reading or manipulation spells. That troll will spill the beans on us quicker than you can blink, and we'll be in serious trouble."

Babet began pacing. "Alright. So we take advantage of the numbskulls flying the transportation ship and we get rid of the troll. __Forever.__"

As the Amis were squelching through the bog and Patron-Minette were making their plan, a scarlet airship from Corinthe College sped over Roccaluce forest. It had a flat bottom and a curved top, with a wide windshield made of thick glass. At the back was a prison cell with bars made of blue fire, and it was in this cell that the troll was being kept. It lurked at the back, occasionally grunting at the four Wizards running the ship.

The Wizards were, of course, Grantaire, Bahorel, Prince Marius and Combeferre. They had captured the troll, and Headmaster Lamarque had now tasked them with transporting it to Magix City to await trial. Grantaire, who was in charge of making sure the bars held strong, scrunched up his face when they neared the Black Mud Swamp. "Hey, Prince Marius?" he said tentatively to the Prince, who was controlling the ship's speed. "Is it just me, or do you feel like something is about to happen?"

Marius glanced up. "Something fun or something really bad?"

"I dunno…" Grantaire murmured. "Just… _something."_

"Relax, Grantaire, I have complete control of this aircraft," Bahorel insisted. "I wasn't named Captain of the pilot club at Corinthe for nothing."

Suddenly the entire ship stalled in mid-air, throwing Combeferre out of his seat. Bahorel's eyes widened. "What that hell, ship?" he yelped.

"What was that?" Grantaire shrieked. His chair was spinning around and he was starting to look a little seasick.

Marius, who had excellent reflexes, caught himself as he too was flung from his chair. "It came from outside," he said, only panicking a little. "Something's trying to attack the ship."

"The hell?" Bahorel snapped. "The sensors aren't picking up anything."

There was a crackle of bright green magic, and suddenly the sensors were all flashing, spinning and beeping like mad. Bahorel tried to regain control of the ship, but to no avail, and for it a little while it became very hard to tell which way was really the North.

Down in the swamp, Cosette noticed the bright red ship spiralling towards the trees. "Look!" she cried, pointing up at it.

Enjolras' eyes widened. "That's a ship from Corinthe!" he yelled. "We have to go help them!"

The Amis dashed through the bog until they reached the crashed aircraft. The four Wizards were dismounting hurriedly, looking more than a little motion-sick, but generally unharmed.

"Are you guys OK?" Jehan asked.

Bahorel scowled. "Oh yeah, we're having a total ball here. Nothing better than unexpectedly blasted out of the sky."

"None of us are hurt," Grantaire assured them. He turned to check the collateral damage and groaned loudly. "Aah, crap." There was an enormous smoking hole on the side of the ship, and several abnormally large footprints leading away from it into the tree-marsh. "The troll got loose!"

"A troll?!" Courfeyrac's eyes widened. "You were transporting a _troll_ and you let it _escape_?!"

"Hey, we didn't _let_ it escape!" Bahorel snapped. "There was an accident. We lost altitude and-"

"Must have been a mechanical failure," Combeferre agreed.

Bahorel nodded. "Anyhow, there's nothing to worry about. It's handcuffed."

Marius pulled a large pair of handcuffs out of the marsh. "Not anymore, it isn't."

Bahorel muttered a word unsuitable for polite conversation, and Grantaire laughed awkwardly and turned to the Faeries. "So, what are you guys doing out here?"

"We're in the middle of a Potionology exercise," Cosette explained, but Bahorel interrupted her.

"Then get back to your assignment and leave this to us, Twinkletoes. This is none of your business."

"What Bahorel means," Marius interrupted sharply, "is that maybe it would be best for you to just keep working while we try to recapture the troll."

Bahorel glared at him. "I don't need your editorial comments, your Highness."

"And __we__ don't need you telling us what to do!" Enjolras snapped. His cheeks were burning bright red in anger.

"Whatever," Bahorel rolled his eyes. "Come on you guys. Let's go." He stumped back to the ship, and his fellow Wizards followed him, shrugging apologetically.

Enjolras turned back to the Amis. "What say you we capture that troll before they do?" he suggested, grinning wickedly.

Jehan shook their head. "I don't think that's such a good idea. We should get back to the class exercise."

"Seriously Jehan," Enjolras said. "Cosette and I have tangled with that troll before. Marius and the others could be in serious trouble.

Jehan sighed. "OK, if you all agree, then I guess we could help them."

"One thing's for sure," Courfeyrac spoke up. "Something strange is going on here. Have you seen the hole in the fuselage? It's perfectly circular. The aircraft didn't malfunction, it was hit by magic. Someone helped that troll escape."

"In that case," Jehan made their mind up, "we don't have much choice, do we?"

Courfeyrac smiled, and went to join Combeferre, who was examining the ship's engine. "The impact knocked out the stabiliser," he surmised. "Would take a pretty powerful blast to break through the ship's side, though."

Meanwhile, Marius was showing the other Faeries the handcuffs. "It's a psychic lock," he explained. "You need to be able to use controlled non-verbal magic to unlock it."

"The troll definitely had help then," Éponine said. "Trolls have no magical power. They're big dumb cavedwellers who live off the land." Everyone looked at her in surprise that she knew so much about trolls, and she shrugged awkwardly. "My dad's kind of a dark creature expert."

Cosette was examining the troll's footprints with narrowed eyes. "Have you guys seen these?" she asked. "Check out the depth."

Enjolras bent down next to her. "Huh. Feet the size of ocean-liners, but the footprints are getting shallower and shallower."

Jehan fit one of their own feet into one of the lightest footprints, right before the trail vanished entirely. Their foot sunk down into the muck. "This makes no sense. The ground is still soft here, the footprints should be consistently deep."

"Either the troll was on some sort of ultrasonic weight-loss scheme, or the person who busted it out levitated it out of the swamp," Éponine said.

Jehan grinned. "Back into the swamp, then?"

The Amis groaned and followed them into the bog, leaving the Wizards to fix their ship. "Let's tread carefully, though," Cosette warned. "We don't know how much sulphur there is under this part of the bog, let alone what kind of animals."

"This is one seriously creepy bog," Éponine shuddered. "The silence is deafening."

"The silence is a good thing though," Cosette pointed out. "It will make it easier for us to find the troll."

"We need to listen to the voice of Nature," Jehan agreed, and Courfeyrac rolled his eyes.

"Not that again. I hear literally _nothing_." The group paused in silence, before Courfeyrac huffed and blew his curly hair out of his face. "So, did Mother Nature give you any suggestions or player tips?" he said sarcastically.

Cosette smiled serenely and pointed to a hole in the undergrowth on the other side of the marsh. "How about trying over there?" she suggested. "It's not a very big hole, but it's a start. I just feel like it's the right way."

Jehan nodded in agreement. "I feel it too. It's the right path."

Cosette took the lead this time, wading through the murky water until she reached the undergrowth, and crawled through the hole. It led to a kind of tunnel, with thorny walls and a mossy floor.

The Wizards had been tracking the troll their own way, Combeferre listening to changes in the wind and Marius picking up vibrations in the water. Unfortunately, they weren't as in tune with Nature as the Faeries were, and they wound up tangled up in some rather thorny vines. Bahorel tried to tear through them, and in return one smacked him hard around the head with a crack like a whip, recoiling as though preparing to hit him again. "Hey!" he yelled in shock. "These branches are alive!"

"That's impossible, Rel," Combeferre insisted. "No form of animal life could survive here." A vine was curling around the leg of his glasses, attempting to pull them off, and he batted it away in irritation.

"And why not?" Marius yelped. The curly-haired prince was dangling upside down from a vine that had wrapped around his ankles.

"There's nothing - hey, quit it! - for animals to eat here!" Combeferre insisted. He was swatting at the vine, which seemed determined to steal his glasses.

"What about carnivorous plants?" Grantaire pointed out, his voice muffled. The vines were wrapping tightly around his face.

"Good point," Combeferre muttered, before shrieking, "HELP!" as vines began twisting around his chest like ropes.

As the Amis neared the part of the bog the Wizards were trapped in, Jehan put their fingers to their lips. "Sssshhhh," they whispered. "I recognise these plants. They're called Tacerecarne Vescuntur, and they hate noise."

Unfortunately, Enjolras hadn't heard the warning, and when he slipped over in the muck he shouted "FUCK!" extremely loudly.

The plants did _not_ appreciate this, and shot several thorny vines out, wrapping around his ankles and dangling him upside down. He shrieked in terror, and Cosette clamped her hand over his mouth. "Ssshhh, Enj. Don't move," she whispered. The plants, finding it to be suitably quiet once again, retracted their vines, dropping Enjolras back into the bog. He shuddered at the feeling of slimy plants moving over his skin, before getting to his feet and following his friends.

Suddenly, a loud shout of "HELP!" caught the Amis' attention. It was followed by another voice, which said, "Stop yelling, Ferre, I can't think straight!"

"Yeah, that's always been a bit of a problem for you, right, Prince Marius?" someone else joked.

"Is now really the time to be making gay jokes?" the second voice snapped, and the Amis realised it was the Wizards they'd left by the ship.

Jehan led the Amis into the thicket, where they were bound by more Tacerecarne Vescuntur vines. "Hey guys," Jehan whispered. "Need a little help?"

"No, we're fine," Bahorel said sarcastically. "Please just continue standing there whispering. Wouldn't want to upset the digestive process of these plants." The vines holding him tightened around his diaphragm, and he wheezed loudly.

"Keep your voice down, you dummy," Éponine scolded him. She didn't sound as mad as Cosette had been expecting, though. "They're agitated by sound!"

Jehan was whispering to the plants. It didn't sound entirely like English; in fact it didn't sound like any language at all. They were making soft rustling noises at the plants, which obediently untrussed the Wizards and pulled their vines back down under the mud.

The four Wizards, who had been struggling to breath by this point, relievedly gulped in air. Jehan led the way back out of the swamp, the Wizards following this time, but Éponine grabbed Cosette's wrist and pulled her back. "Cosette," she whispered excitedly, "is it just me, or is Bahorel's whole bad boy rebel thing __really__ hot?"

Cosette blinked in surprise. "Literally just you, Ponine," she replied, raising her eyebrows. Éponine shrugged, and they followed the rest of the group back out of the thicket.

When they rejoined the group, Grantaire into step beside Cosette. "Hey!" he whispered happily.

"Hey!" Cosette smiled back. Enjolras nudged her.

"You can speak normally now, we're away from the carnivorous plants," he laughed, before addressing the whole group. "I think we should all team up and look for the troll together," he suggested, and Jehan nodded in agreement.

"I'm cool with that if you guys are."

Bahorel scowled. "I'm not teaming up with Faeries."

"You're on your own then, buddy," Marius laughed. "And if you find the troll, just give us a shout."

Bahorel's scowl deepened, but he agreed to team up. They'd reached a part of the swamp where the water was deeper, but it had little mossy stepping stones across it. Marius was the first to jump onto one, followed by Combeferre. Unfortunately, Combeferre lost his footing and fell on his arse in the marsh. The Faeries burst out laughing, but Bahorel rolled his eyes. "Great. First we have to team up with the Faeries, and now we've got Clumsy Combeferre too."

Marius was helping Combeferre to his feet, and Grantaire glared at Bahorel. "Jeez, Bahorel, would it kill you to be a little nicer?"

"Don't tell me what to do, Grantaire," Bahorel snapped. "You're just Prince Marius' yes-man. Why don't you go polish his boots or something?"

"Seriously, man, stop being a dick," Marius said.

"Or what?"

"Or you're off the team," Marius snapped. "Is that clear?"

Bahorel looked like he was about to argue, but suddenly he deflated. "Alright, let's just go find that troll."

Marius helped Combeferre find his footing, and the rest of the group each jumped onto their own stepping stone. Enjolras wobbled a little. "Is it just me, or are these clumps of turf moving?" he asked nervously.

"I was thinking the same thing," Cosette added. She thought she could feel the turf moving with the flow of the water.

"You can all stop thinking," Courfeyrac said worriedly, "because these clumps of turf are moving for real." They all looked up, and realised that the bank was much further away than it had been a minute ago. Grantaire, who was the tallest, stood on his tiptoes to try and see further down the river. His eyes widened in worry.

"There's a whirlpool at the bottom of this run. We've gotta get out of here, now!"

They all started leaping for the bank. Enjolras nearly lost his balance, but Marius caught him. They made eye contact, and a dark pink blush started creeping up Enjolras' neck. "Hi, uh, Prince Marius."

"Careful you don't fall in the water," Marius teased him. He leapt to the bank and offered Enjolras a hand. By this point nearly everyone was on the bank except Bahorel. He tried to make it in a single bound, but mistimed it and fell into the water. Courfeyrac dived for his hands.

"Hang on, Bahorel," he shouted, pulling as best he could.

"Don't let go of me!" Bahorel yelled. For the first time he looked a little scared. "I don't wanna be whirlpool chow!"

Courfeyrac strained, but he lost his footing, and Combferre grabbed him by the ankles before he fell in. "Someone help me!" Combeferre yelled. "I can't keep this up forever!"

Grantaire and Cosette each grabbed one of Combeferre's legs, and together they pulled the three boys safely back to dry land. They collapsed onto the (thankfully solid) bank. Bahorel was the first to get up.

"Come on guys, we've got a troll to catch," he said coldly. "We've lost too much time already."

The group headed along what seemed to be a path, when a sudden, piercing shriek hit their ears. Bahorel grinned. "Looks like we've found him!" He and the other Wizards dashed towards the scream.

Cosette's eyes widened. "That's Amaryl!" She dashed after the Wizards. As much as she disliked her snobbish classmate, she didn't want to see her eaten by a troll.

Amaryl and two of her friends were cornered against a rockface, and the troll was approaching them slowly. Marius nodded slightly and turned to the Faeries and Wizards. "OK, first we need someone to distract the troll. Then Grantaire and Combeferre will grab him, and Bahorel and I will slip the handcuffs onto him. That OK with y'all?" When no one complained, he nodded more firmly. "Alright, let's do it!"

Cosette charged up to the troll. "Hey, you big bully!" she yelled. "Remember me?"

The troll beat its fists against its chest and roared at her. "Come get me, _gros cul__!_" she yelled, and dashed for the bushes as the troll ran at her. Launching themselves at its ankles, Grantaire and Combeferre grabbed a leg each, tripping the troll over. Bahorel and Marius leapt for the hands, and Marius seemingly attempted to arm-wrestle it.

"What are you waiting for, Rel?" he bit out. "Cuff him!"

"Easier said than - ugh - done!" Bahorel groaned. The troll had grabbed his head, and in one deft movement, kicked itself free of Grantaire and Combeferre before flinging Marius and Bahorel back into the bushes. It beat its chest in rage and stormed off into the forest.

"Great, we lost him again," Grantaire groaned. "This day has been a complete disaster." Combeferre had somehow gotten tangled in the handcuffs in all the kerfuffle, and Grantaire helped him free.

Amaryl glared at the Wizards. "Nice job, idiots," she snapped, before turning tail and leading her friends into the woods in the opposite direction of the troll. Marius scrambled free of the bushes and pulled a twig out of his ebony curls.

"That's the thanks we get," he laughed ruefully.

The troll had reached a part of the forest where the trees were too densely crowded to let in any sunlight. It bounded between trunks, smelling and feeling its way along. Suddenly it picked up a sort of perfumey smell that smelled familiar, and changed course to find it.

Grantaire was sitting on a log, running his fingers through his messy red hair. Cosette sat down next to him and smiled. "You know, even though you didn't catch the troll, that was awfully brave of you back there," she said softly.

Grantaire laughed awkwardly. "Nah, it wasn't. It was pretty reckless."

Cosette shook her head. "Yes it was! You saved those ungrateful Faeries from being eaten by the troll!"

Grantaire shrugged. "They weren't far off the mark though. We're not really Wizards, we're a bunch of rookies. And tackling the troll like that was a rookie mistake. The only thing we do really well together is argue."

Cosette sighed and glanced over at Bahorel, who was arguing fiercely with Marius again. "Don't blame me, Prince Marius!" he snapped. "I'm not the one who handcuffed Ferre!"

"You had the handcuffs," Marius pointed out.

"So it was all my fault? Because I'm not the one who came up with that stupid plan -"

"Alright, you guys, that's enough!" Combeferre snapped. "If we want to catch the troll, we need to work as a team!"

Marius sighed and nodded. "You're right, Ferre. We need to work together." He turned and offered Bahorel a handshake. "Shall we try again? And put a raincheck on the argument?"

Bahorel took it with a smile. "I'm down with that."

Combeferre looked relieved, but he suddenly made eye contact with Courfeyrac, and his cheeks turned the same shade of pink as Jehan's turtleneck. Grantaire got up and went over to join his friends.

"Rel and I have called a truce," Marius announced.

"I would have preferred everlasting peace, but I can live with that," Grantaire laughed.

In the darkest, muddiest part of the swamp, Patron-Minette stood in wait. They'd been there for nearly an hour, and Gueulemer was starting to get frustrated. "I knew it," he was growling. "I knew it."

"Would you chill, Mer?" Babet snapped. "Everything is under control."

"But what if it's lost?" Claquesous pointed out. Babet shook his head.

"Impossible. When a troll picks up a scent, he never loses it. Spray more perfume, Claq."

Claquesous obligingly spritzed more of her perfume onto herself, and they continued to wait.

They didn't have to wait much longer. The troll, drawn to the scent of Claquesous' perfume, had come straight to them. Babet grinned triumphantly. "Well, well. Look who's here."

Gueulemer grinned too. "We gave you freedom and you did as we asked, but now you must enter oblivion."

"Goodbye, troll," Babet hissed. "May our secret vanish with you." He and his cousins formed a ring around the troll, and raised their hands. There was a brief flash of green light, and the troll was gone, never to be seen again.

Babet breathed out. "Mission accomplished. Let's go back to Votirlu." Another flash, and they'd been transported back to the dormitory in Votirlu castle. Their secret was safe for now.

Cosette led the group down the same path the troll had taken, only about half an hour later. She paused for a second, and Grantaire asked, "What do you hear now?"

Cosette shook her head. "It's not a sound, it's a feeling."

"It's like a sort of navigation system in your heart," Jehan added.

"So you're sure this is the right path?" Marius asked, and Courfeyrac smiled.

"Relax. I've learned that when it comes to the voice of Nature, Cosette and Jehan can't be beat."

Cosette led them through the swamp for another five minutes, before she stopped, her face scrunching up in confusion. "We've reached the end of the road."

"But there's no one here," Marius pointed out.

"I don't know what happened," Cosette looked seriously confused. "The feeling's gone."

Enjolras meanwhile was squinting through the trees. "There's some serious negative energy in this part of the swamp."

"I feel it too," Courfeyrac murmured. "I think someone cast a spell here… I think they made the troll disappear."

Éponine nodded. "That would make sense. They helped it escape so that they could make it disappear."

"But who would do something like that?" Grantaire asked.

Cosette closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She pursed her lips in thought. "Is it just me, or does this place smell kinda familiar?" she asked.

Jehan nodded. "Last time I smelled this was in the alleyway with Patron-Minette!"

"I could smell it when I fought them at the gala," Cosette added. "But what does Patron-Minette have to do with this?"

It was dark by the time they made it back to the repaired ship. The Wizards were nice enough to drop the Amis off at the meeting point in Roccaluce Forest. As they climbed down the walkway to the ground, Éponine glanced over her shoulder at Bahorel, but Grantaire was the only one to call over to the group. "If it's OK with you guys, we'll say goodbye here," he smiled. The Amis nodded and waved, and the walkway folded back up to the ship as it took off. The Faeries turned to their classmates and relieved looking professor.

Palladium smiled at them. "I w-watched you during t-today's exercise, and even though you c-came in last, I'm really p-p-pleased with all of you! You've shown courage, generosity, and excellent decision making capabilities, so in the light of the outcome of this exercise, I would like to say that it was just a test run."

Amaryl looked furious. "No fair!" she snapped. "We did all that for nothing?"

"I wouldn't say nothing, Amaryl," Palladium said firmly. "Some of you learned a lot today." He smiled at the Amis, who all grinned back.

At Corinthe College, Marius, Grantaire, Bahorel and Combeferre watched as their ship was levitated into the mechanical bay to be properly fixed. Marius turned to his friends and sighed. "Today's mission was a complete failure."

"It's true," Combeferre agreed with a sigh. "We lost the troll."

"But," Marius continued, "it was a great experience anyway."

Combeferre nodded. "You're right, Prince Marius! For the first time today, I actually felt like I was part of a team."

"I agree," Grantaire smiled. "We became a real team today."

"We did," Marius smiled. "Although, I have one request. Could you guys please stop calling me 'Prince'? It makes me feel old."

All four boys burst out laughing.

_**NOTES:**__ Thanks for reading! Hope you're enjoying it!_


	6. Punishment and Fun-ishment

School life at Musain College for Faeries was super fast-paced, which was why Cosette was quite surprised to remember that she and the Amis had a punishment waiting for them. It was nearly two weeks after the incident in Magix City when Professor Javert called the five of them into his office.

When they entered, he was glaring at them short-sightedly and polishing his monocle. When they were all squirming with discomfort and anticipation, he finally screwed his monocle back into place and steepled his fingers on the desk in front of him, like a more dignified and intimidating Mr Burns. "It took me a while to find a suitable punishment for your infractions," he began, "but eventually I decided on the simplest one: cleaning."

"Cleaning?" Enjolras said. He looked disgusted.

"Yes, cleaning, Prince Enjolras," Javert said. He was enjoying himself far too much. "While the rest of the school enjoys a picnic in the Bluebell Clearing in the Roccaluce Forest, you five will clean this whole school from top to bottom."

"The whole school?!" Jehan gasped in dismay.

Javert smirked. "No, only the stairs, corridors, classrooms and bathrooms." He clapped his hands twice, and five mops and buckets appeared. The buckets were full of soap, cloths and dusters. "You will find that you have no access to your powers," Javert continued, "so these are your work-tools." He smugly handed a mop to Enjolras, who looked thoroughly confused.

Courfeyrac looked confused too. "What a strange object," he murmured. He pulled a PDA out of his shirt pocket and began typing a description of the mop into it, but Professor Javert snatched it off him and shut it.

"I almost forgot," he grinned. "You can't use technology either." He locked the PDA in one of his desk drawers."

Despite the fact that they were being punished, Éponine burst out laughing. "The look on your face, Courf!" she giggled. Courfeyrac was wearing an expression of wide-eyed surprise with his mouth wide open, and it _did _look pretty funny. His mouth clamped shut when Éponine laughed at him, and he glared at her.

"It wasn't that funny. You're being irrational."

Javert cleared his throat loudly. "Tomorrow I will be conducting an inspection. It better all be clean! Now go!"

Courfeyrac and Jehan had decided to start with the staircase up to the dormitories. Courfeyrac still looked unsure of how to use the mop, and Jehan offered to help him, but he shook his head.

"Nah, I'm sure I can figure out how to use these primitive instruments," he insisted. He picked up the bucket and tipped the cleaning products onto the floor, narrowing his eyes as he examined the inside of the bucket.

"Are you sure?" Jehan chuckled. Coming from a planet where magic was regarded as something to only be used in special circumstances, they were well accustomed to using a mop and bucket to clean. Courfeyrac, however, came from a world of precision and technology, and it showed.

"Of course I'm sure!" he said, putting the bucket on his head and tucking the handle under his chin like a strap.

"Are you sure you're sure you don't want my help?" Jehan giggled.

"I can handle the situation, Jehan," Courfeyrac said confidently. "Don't worry." He grabbed the mop, turned it so the brush part was pointing up to the ceiling, and began using it to dust a picture frame. "See?"

"Oh, yes," Jehan sniggered. The picture frame, made to be dusted with something far less coarse, lost the fight with gravity and crashed to the ground. "I see."

Courfeyrac blinked at the picture frame in surprise. "I think I may have fucked up," he said uncertainly, and Jehan laughed out loud.

"Now will you let me help you?"

The Musain amphitheatre was a circular room looking down onto a central stage area with a long table in the middle. The walls were the same pink as the outside of the castle, and the seating banks were made up of blue plushy cushions. The floors were yellow, and the windows were arranged around the top of the room, and it was in here that Enjolras, Cosette and Éponine had chosen to begin cleaning - well, Cosette and Éponine were cleaning. Enjolras was perched on the central table, writing in a notebook.

Cosette was scrubbing at a particularly stubborn stain between two of the seats in the third row. "Ugh, I can't wait to be done here," she groaned.

Éponine scowled over at Enjolras from were she was dusting the spider-webs off a window. "We'd be done a lot sooner if Prince Privilege would help us."

Cosette nodded in agreement. "We agreed that you would do the floors, Enjolras," she said sternly.

Enjolras glanced up from his notebook. "No, you two agreed. I have an important essay to write! Do you want me to be behind on it?"

"Practising what you're going to yell at people over the internet doesn't count as an essay, Enjolras!" Éponine snapped. He opened his mouth again and she steamrollered over him. "And don't you dare play the royalty card!"

"This is important!"

"Look," Cosette interrupted before the fight could turn nasty. "Let's just get to work and get this done." She poured the cleaning liquid into the bucket of water and stirred it with the mop. When she looked up she realised Enjolras had gone back to his notepad, and on a whim she picked up the bucket and flung soapy water at him.

"Hey!" Enjolras yelped.

"I saw that notepad, Enj," Cosette giggled. "You weren't writing an essay. You were designing a revenge scheme to get back at Javert. We don't need to get back at him, we broke the rules and it's fair enough that we're being punished."

Éponine nearly cackled. "Good one, Sette!"

"Oh yeah?" Cosette raised an eyebrow at her. "I've got some for you too!" She swung the bucket back, and Éponine was drenched too. She hurried to grab her own bucket.

When Courfeyrac and Jehan entered, the room was no closer to being cleaned, but the floor was awfully slippery. Cosette, Enjolras and Éponine were all lying on the floor, all of them drenched in sudsy water. Jehan raised their eyebrows. "Whoa, what happened in here? A tornado?"

Enjolras slowly got to his feet. "Oh, we were just working some stuff out, right?" he giggled.

Cosette got up too. "Right!" she laughed.

Éponine gave them a thumbs up from where she was lying. Jehan looked seriously exasperated. "What a wreck," they groaned.

Courfeyrac nodded. "We'll never finish at this rate."

Enjolras looked thoughtful. "Why not ask the boys at Corinthe for a little help?" he suggested.

Jehan snorted. "Oh, sure. Then when we get caught, we'll be grounded for infinity."

"Well, I think it's a great idea," Cosette grinned.

"But isn't it, like, cheating?" Courfeyrac said worriedly, but Cosette shook her head.

"Nuh-uh. Professor Javert said no magic and no technology. He _didn't_ say no flesh and blood."

"Right!" Éponine agreed. "And when everything's cleaned up, we can have a party!"

It was hard to argue with that logic, and the Amis hurriedly finished cleaning the amphitheatre and the classrooms before Enjolras called Prince Marius (whom he'd exchanged numbers with on the way back from Black Mud Swamp) and invited him and his friends to the party. The main hallway was still rather dusty by the time the boys arrived (on cool hovering motorbikes that Cosette found out were called 'hoverscoots'). They looked on in confusion as the five Faeries continued mopping.

"I thought you said this was a party," Bahorel said grumpily.

"It will be," Cosette reassured them. She'd managed to find four extra mops in a storage cupboard. "Just as soon as we've finished cleaning. Here!" She threw the mops to each of the boys, who managed to catch them - except Bahorel, who made no attempt and instead glared contemptuously at it when it hit the floor.

Éponine cranked up the music, and the cleaning party got started. Her philosophy was that everything was better with music, even cleaning floors. It was quite an odd sort of party; mainly because Enjolras and Prince Marius had begun a heavy debate about first the Andros Division, with Marius claiming it was for the best while Enjolras was in disbelief that anyone could support the splitting of a nation, which then devolved into a heated discussion of the civil war in Eraklyon. Combeferre and Courfeyrac seemed to be having a pretend swordfight with the mop handles, and Cosette and Grantaire were blushing every time they made eye contact. Bahorel was still his normal grumpy self, and Éponine still found it oddly attractive. Meanwhile Wolter had come to join them, and was delightedly sitting on the end of Jehan's mop while they pushed it gleefully around the room, grinning crazily.

Soon the room was clean, and the group headed up to the Amis' apartment to have a real party. Music blared, and Bahorel passed around cans of something that smelt like cider but was far lighter on the mind and the stomach. Cosette and Courfeyrac were dancing together, and Cosette commented that the cleaning party had gone pretty well.

Courfeyrac agreed. "Everything is done, and I found out that Combeferre has scary-accurate knowledge of the Battle of Domino." He grinned. "So, how's it going with you and Grantaire?"

"Oh!" Cosette blushed. "Well, he's, uh, really nice…"

"Mmhmm…" Courfeyrac giggled. "I see that blush. Well, according to social convention, a party is the perfect time to get to know someone! Get in there, girl!"

In the Musain Castle courtyard, violet light flashed briefly, and the three Witches of Patron-Minette appeared. Claquesous looked around and noticed the lights on in one of the apartments. "Hey," she snapped at Babet. "Didn't you say the school was empty?"

"Guess I was mistaken," Babet frowned. "They're all supposed to be at some dumb picnic in the woods." He and his cousins all pushed off from the ground and took to the air without the help of wings; Witches used dark energy to fly. They hovered at the balcony of the apartment, peering in at the party. "Those ridiculous Faeries," Babet rolled his eyes.

Inside, Enjolras and Prince Marius were continuing their discussion of magical politics, while Combeferre, Bahorel and Grantaire watched the other Faeries dancing. Combeferre groaned quietly. "I want to ask Courfeyrac to dance, but I look ridiculous when I dance," he sighed. Bahorel snorted.

"Combeferre, you look ridiculous even when you're not dancing."

Grantaire nudged him sharply in the ribs. "Oh, stop it, Rel. I can see you checking out Éponine."

"Who?" Bahorel said hurriedly. "The girl with dark hair? She's alright, I guess."

Outside, Babet snapped his fingers and he and his coven vanished, reappearing in the newly cleaned entrance hall. He turned to his cousins with a look of seriousness on his face. "Let's conjure up the Vacuums," he said.

Gueulemer's eyes widened. "The Vacuums? Why? They're made to store only the most powerful and mystical magical energies. Enjolras is in there, we can just get him alone and take his ring."

Babet shook his head. "I'm starting to wonder if it's maybe not contained in the ring of Solaria," he confessed. "When we were at Musain on the night of the gala, I could feel it close by, even though the ring wasn't actually in the jewellery box. I think it's hidden somewhere else in this school."

It was a fair enough point, and each Witch pressed their hands together as though in prayer, forcing a little bottle to appear in front of each of them with a whispered cry of "Vacuums!" The bottles could feel each others' presence, and merged together into a single beacon of light. It hesitated for a moment, before leading the Witches up the staircase and along a corridor. They followed, confident that the Vacuums would lead them to what they so desperately coveted.

When they got to the top of the staircase, Gueulemer paused. "Wait!" he cried. "Just in case those Faeries come looking…" He sent a bolt of lightening at the floor, and where it struck a cloud of smoke appeared, morphing into something huge, something that roared.

Marius was cracking open a can of the fruity drink when the roar shook the room and he nearly spilled it on himself. Cosette laughed a little. "Is Enjolras making you nervous?" she teased, ignoring Enjolras' flushed cheeks and 'zip it' motions. "His bark is worse than his bite, I promise." A thud that made the entire room shake quickly put that theory to bed.

Enjolras dashed over to the open balcony door. "It came from someone left their TV on?"

With a loud crash, a plush velvet sofa flew through the balcony doors of a room across from theirs and landed on the lawn. Enjolras shuddered. "Maybe not."

Bahorel gave a sharp whistle, and the four hoverscoots leapt into the air from where they'd been parked, hovering next to the balcony in readiness. He, Marius, Grantaire and Combeferre all hopped onto their respective bikes, and flew over to the room, taking a short-cut to the smashed door. The Faeries took a little longer to get there, having to go by foot, but when they arrived the Wizards were examining the destroyed room. There was an enormous hole in the wall where something had crashed through.

"What kind of creature could do this?" Combferre murmured.

Courfeyrac was examining a large gash in the wall. He plucked a piece of dark fur out of it. "A big and heavy creature."

"Oh golly, thanks so much for that," Bahorel said sarcastically. "I never would have guessed."

Courfeyrac scowled. "It's a little over eight feet tall and weighs close to a ton. Its fur is bristly, it has long horns and multiple clawed limbs. It also has a musky odour. Detailed enough for you?" There was another thud, this time close by, and he was nearly knocked off his feet.

Grantaire narrowed his eyes. "That must have been it."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Marius said impatiently. "Let's go!" He raised his hand, and Cosette watched in amazement as water droplets appeared in the air, finally forming a broadsword.

Grantaire raised his hand, and flames appeared in his palm, forming a sword. Bahorel was holding a sword too, although she'd missed how he'd formed it, and Combeferre had drawn a handgun. They started down the corridor, and Enjolras followed them. "We're coming too!" he insisted.

Bahorel shook his head. "You have no powers right now, remember? You're currently useless in a fight. Stay where it's safe, little Faery." He and the other Wizards vanished down the dark corridor.

"Was he serious?!" Éponine blinked in shock a little. She shook her head and beckoned to the Amis to follow her. "Come on, we can cut it off from the other side."

They ran down a different corridor, unaware that Patron-Minette was unknowingly following them. Their Vacuums had latched onto a magical trail of some sort, and they were curious as to where it would lead them.

The Wizards had entered one of the downstairs classrooms, and Grantaire held up a handful of flames, lighting up the room and illuminating a hole in the ceiling. "It went up that way," Marius murmured.

Meanwhile the Faeries were in the upstairs corridor, with Éponine leading the way. The power had gone out at some point, and she couldn't really see where she was going, but suddenly she walked into what seemed to be a wall. A very smelly, somewhat sticky wall.

She backed away, gagging. "Ugh. I just hit something really _funky_, I think we missed a spot."

The wall moved, and in the dim light from the window they realised it wasn't a wall at all, but the monster: a gigantic four-armed Minotaur. It opened its mouth, revealing sharp fangs, and roared loudly, spraying spit everywhere.

Enjolras looked furious and ready to confront the monster, but Cosette reminded him, "Enj! We have no powers!" and he hurriedly backed away from the Minotaur. The Amis dashed away down the corridor with the Minotaur in hot pursuit, and although neither group knew it, Patron-Minette still following them. The Minotaur paid no mind to the scratches it was making in the walls, and suddenly it pounced, nearly spearing Cosette with its horns, and she scrambled away in a hurry. The dust from the plaster walls made things even more confusing, and the Minotaur nearly caught Courfeyrac, but missed and instead got its horns stuck in the wall. Jehan approached it crossly.

"You are one nasty critter," they informed it. "Maybe this will freshen you up." They pulled a bottle of perfume out of the pocket of their embroidered jeans, and spritzed the Minotaur with Rosey Bliss. It did not look very impressed.

"Jehan, get away from that thing!" Courfeyrac yelled. "I think you made it even angrier!"

"Maybe a different scent…?" Jehan suggested, but changed their mind when the Minotaur managed to yank one of its horns free. "Nope, you're right. Relocating now." They darted back to join the Amis.

"Out of the way, Faeries!" Bahorel yelled from the other side of the monster. "This might get messy!" He started running towards the Minotaur.

"Bahorel, wait!" Grantaire yelled. "Let's take him down as a group!"

"Why?" Bahorel grinned. "I've got this covered -"

The Minotaur punched him in the face, sending him crashing through a stained-glass window into another room.

As Bahorel lay on the ground, semi-conscious, Patron-Minette followed their glowing light into the room he'd been knocked into. Seeing Bahorel, Babet raised his eyebrow. "Well, what do we have here?" he commented.

Claquesous knelt down next to Bahorel. "Interesting…" she said. She sounded fascinated. "This guy has a very strong negative force… he's on a level with __us__. And he's cute too. What do you think?"

Gueulemer rolled his eyes. "I'm not impressed. And you're wasting time!"

Babet tilted his head to one side. "I think he could be useful, but not yet. Let's keep moving for now."

Watching the Wizards battle the Minotaur, Jehan spoke up. "We've got to do something! The Minotaur's beating them to a pulp!"

"But we don't have anything to fight with," Courfeyrac pointed out.

A noise behind them made them turn. Enjolras had dashed off and returned carrying the five buckets and mops - complete with cleaning liquid. He grinned at Courfeyrac. "There's always something to fight with!" he insisted. "All we need is a plan."

Cosette grinned too. "And I think I might have one!"

As the three remaining Wizards were thrown against the wall, the Minotaur turned at the sound of the loud clanging. The Amis were whacking the mops against the buckets, creating a huge din. "Hey, monster!" Éponine yelled. "We're over here!"

The Minotaur charged, and the Amis dashed off down the hall, sending the mops and buckets flying. Jehan grinned at Cosette. "You ready?"

"Let's do it!" Cosette pulled the bottle of cleaning liquid out of her belt and squirted the soap onto the floor, as did the other Faeries. The monster slipped over in the goop, and went crashing through the wall into the entrance hall, falling down the two-story drop and landing with a thud.

The Amis and the Wizards (including Bahorel, who had regained consciousness) dashed down the stairs to examine it. They began speculating on what it was doing in the school, but Cosette had a more pressing question: "Where did it come from, and are there more of them?"

Enjolras examined the monster. "I'd say this is a special gift from Patron-Minette-R-Us."

"I think we should go to Headmaster Myriel's office and use his crystal ball," Cosette suggested. "Maybe we'll be able to see what's actually happening in Musain."

Jehan looked worried. "We can't go into Headmaster Myriel's office when he isn't in there!"

"It's strictly against the rules," Courfeyrac agreed.

"Yes, but right now we're the only ones who can do anything to protect our school!" Cosette pointed out. Her friends thought it over, and ultimately agreed that it was the lesser of two evils.

As they entered the enormous office overlooking the courtyard, Bahorel paused and narrowed his eyes. "We're not alone in the building," he said. "I can sense it."

"What if it's another monster?!" Jehan gasped. "What do we do?"

"Everyone hide," Cosette whispered.

Patron-Minette entered Myriel's office, following their glowing light. Babet narrowed his eyes. "That's strange. The Vacuums indicate that the greatest power in the dimension is in this room, but I don't see anything. I guess we'll just have to tear the place apart until we find what we're looking for."

"I don't think so!" Cosette snapped, jumping onto the desk. The three Witches nearly fell out of the air in shock, and suddenly the lights snapped on.

Bahorel grinned from next to the light-switch. "Hello!" The other Faeries and Wizards exited their various hiding places and surrounded the three Witches.

"What are you doing here?" Babet snapped.

"No, what are you doing here?" Cosette replied, equally as angry.

"Just what I was going to ask all of you," came a voice from the doorway, and everyone turned to see Headmaster Myriel enter the room. "Up until now, I was under the impression that this was __my __office."

Cosette's cheeks coloured. "I know it looks bad, but we can explain!"

Luckily, Headmaster Myriel accepted their explanation with no quandaries, made the Minotaur vanish in a puff of smoke, and simply insisted that the Faeries see off their guests politely. Cosette grinned awkwardly at Grantaire as he put on his helmet. "Sorry the party got derailed, Grantaire."

The redhead laughed. "Actually, I had a really nice time."

Enjolras was saying enthusiastically to Prince Marius, "But you can't seriously think that the division is healthy -" when suddenly the curly-haired boy cut him off by pressing a kiss to his cheek. Enjolras' cheeks were redder than his candy-apple-red crop-top.

Combeferre straightened his glasses, smiling awkwardly at Courfeyrac. "So, uh, memorable evening?"

Courfeyrac laughed. "Definitely."

Jehan meanwhile was waiting with bated breath to see what Bahorel would say to Éponine, especially after they'd been checking each other out all night. They were disappointed, however, when the magenta-haired boy shrugged and said, "Next time you Faeries have a party? Don't invite me."

"Fine!" Éponine snapped, but Jehan didn't miss the flush creeping up her neck.

As the boys drove off back to Corinthe academy, Headmaster Myriel turned to Patron-Minette, who all looked thoroughly embarrassed. "As for you three, I must inform you that your behaviour this evening has been totally unacceptable in every way. I will be writing to Headmaster Thénardier tonight, and he will no doubt punish you as he sees fit. Now, back to school all of you!" He snapped his fingers, and Patron-Minette vanished in a burst of golden light.

Javert, who had been waiting silently by Myriel's side, turned to glare at the Amis. "And now to deal with all of you!"

The Amis headed straight up to Headmaster Myriel's office. They were all incredibly nervous, but to their relief when they got there he was smiling. "Now, I've looked at the situation as a whole, and so I will not reprimand you," he informed them. "This evening's events have shown that you can handle difficult situations intelligently, creatively and without magic, so I will give you back your powers. You have acquitted yourselves admirably." He snapped his fingers, and Cosette, Enjolras, Courfeyrac, Jehan and Éponine each felt a warmth enter their chests. They hadn't noticed it before, but they all felt more complete now, and it was a relief. And by his smile, Cosette reckoned Myriel could sense their relief too.


End file.
